The Spy Who Came To Ludus
by It'sAllGooeyAndSticky
Summary: This is my version of the story, and what I-r0k had to do with any of it. It's a terrible story, but I had fun writing it, and reading the real book. Thanks. Characters and story property of Ernest Cline. My hero.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note/Disclaimer:**

I read the original book, and I loved it. I wrote this story because I was bored, and I was **also** really obsessed with Daisho. The characters are all property of Ernest Cline. So is the plotline, minus a **few** things I added in for my own story. None of the characters are mine, and this story is not intended to be published.

 **The Spy Who Came To Ludus**

 **1**

I remember exactly what I was doing the very first time I got the invitation. There was an email in my inbox, and an invitation from someone I only vaguely knew.

I decided to deal with the email first. I wondered how it had gotten through my spam filters. I had only friends authorized to send me emails. I regularly checked my spam, but not much ever arrived there. Just the usual offers for free Viagra or penis/breast enlargement. I didn't really care. But this email was interesting, because the subject caught my eye. The email appeared as follows:

Subject: Addressed to Taisei Oshiro. URGENT.

Message: Hello. My name Is James D Halliday. I wish to ask for a meeting with you. As you may or may not know, I am the creator of the OASIS. I have sent you an invitation, with my avatar name. Anorak. Please kindly accept, and I will initiate a chat with you. Thank you very much. JDH

I didn't know what to think. What would the creator of the OASIS want with me? Had I done something wrong? I didn't believe so. I had graduated just seven months ago, and I now had a job. I worked for IOI, (Innovative Online Industries), as one of the developers for the network based in Japan. I was constantly working on a plan to bring them down, but that's a story for another day. Right now I had to be thankful they had even given me a job. They were too over confident, these Americans. I rubbed my hands and turned to the business at hand. James Halliday's email. I sighed. I wondered what I had done to make him angry.

I had two choices. I could decline, and see if he went away on his own, and hit up the next person on his list. Or I could accept, hoping that he wanted to congratulate me on something that I had done. I don't know what sounded better right now. Evade him, or see what he wanted. My heart was beating fast. I didn't do anything. So, what would be the harm in accepting his invitation? Unfortunately it was the beginning of the worst period of my life.


	2. Chapter 2

**2**

I accepted the invitation, and waited for only twenty seconds before my headset chimed in my ear. Anorak was calling me on my OASIS line. I answered on the second ring.

"Konnichiwa, Taisei-san." Said the very familiar voice.

I was speechless. He could see me, just as I could see him. I bowed instead of greeting him vocally. I was just too shocked. This was actually happening. The wizard in long robes was actually greeting me. He was actually talking to me.

"Please, do not be alarmed." He said in a gentle voice. "May you please allow me to teleport to your place of residence within the OASIS?" he asked calmly. "As a level one for the last eighteen years, I don't believe you can afford to teleport anywhere much." He explained.

"Yes." I answered as my hands began to sweat in their haptic gloves.

"Arigato." He said softly. "See you soon." He said as he vanished.

Oh my crud. He was actually coming to see me. This was either because I fucked up in some huge way, or because he was going to congratulate me for something I had just done. Later I found out it was neither.

I led my avatar to the door of my virtual house, and soon there was a flash as a wizard with long robes materialized at my door. He came in, and once again, he bowed. I bowed as well. He smiled as we both walked to the virtual couches, and sat down.

"I apologize for alarming you, my boy." He said as I relaxed a little.

"If it's because I don't play, I have to tell you, I'm not wealthy. So I can't really afford to do very much." I explained.

"No, no. It's not like that. In fact, the fact that your avatar is still a level one, and very weak means you probably have a real life outside of the OASIS." He said with a smile on his virtual face. "This is good. I used my creation as a means to escape my miserable life. Now, I regret that option, and I sometimes think about erasing the whole OASIS." He confided softly. "It is wrong to live in a virtual reality because you don't like your real surroundings." He said sighing as he bowed his head. "Humans need human contact. True happiness is found outside of VR, my boy." He said as he rubbed his eyes. "So, I'm sure you're on the edge of your seat right now. I know you want me to tell you why it is I seek audience with you." He said with a smile.

"Yes, please, honorable Anorak." I said softly.

"I am ill." He said bitterly. "I am dying, and I have no heirs. I know that I will be dead in a month or less." He said softly. "I do not know how to leave my estate in the right hands." He said as he once again rubbed his eyes. "So, as you can probably figure out, I have designed a contest. I have hidden my fortune in the OASIS, and the first to find it gets that, along with total control of the realm." He explained. "Where do you come in to play, you ask? I know you work for IOI." He revealed as my face flushed. I hadn't disabled the sensors in my visor, so my avatar's face also flushed. "Times are hard." He said as he put a hand on my shoulder. It literally felt like Halliday himself was putting a hand on my actual shoulder. But I knew better. "Do you like your job, Taisei San?" he asked.

"Not very well, honorable Anorak." I said softly. "IOI is full of evil. They are a ruthless bunch of soulless humans, who will stop at nothing to get what they want." I said bitterly. "I know no one is listening or watching me. So I can say it freely. But at work, we have to be very careful." I informed.

"I understand." He said bitterly. "I predict that when I die, and the contest is announced, the whole of IOI will be trying and fighting tooth and nail to get my fortune. The only reason they want it is so they can gain control of my creation." He said as he balled his hands up into fists. "I have been looking all over the world since I fell ill, and I have chosen you for the job." He said softly.

"I cannot do this, honorable Anorak." I said softly as my hands coated my gloves with sweat. "I am not fit for this task." I said as I stood up.

He held up his hands. "Wait, Taisei-San." He said as he also stood. "I have been watching you for ages, and I know you are the right person for the job. You dislike your job, and you have access to IOI's inner workings. You are also far enough away that no one will suspect you." He said softly. "I beg of you, my boy. Please help me."

"What would I need to do?" I asked as I removed my gloves and placed them on my lap. My avatar placed his hands on his lap. I wiped my actual hands on my pants. My hands tend to sweat a lot when I am nervous.

"I need you to make sure that no IOI employee gets ahold of my prize." He explained. "I need you to keep an eye on the company and make sure that under no circumstances will they win my fortune and my wonderful creation." He said bitterly. "You, me and my best friend Og will be the only ones who know of this mission." He explained. "No one will know who you are, and you will never be forced to reveal your true identity. Everything will be safe." He said as he looked at me with a pleading look.

I had agreed.


	3. Chapter 3

**3**

The next time I would hear from James Halliday was the week before his death. He introduced me to Ogden Morrow, or Og as he was known in the virtual world. That week we were both told of how the contest would be held, and what would happen when James died.

He had hidden his entire estate and the secret to control over the OASIS in an egg. The egg later became one of the most famous Easter eggs hidden in a video game in the entire world. It was one of the most sought after prizes in the history of game winnings. There was never, and would never, be a prize as genius as that one. He never revealed the location of the egg to either myself or Morrow. We were also forbidden from entering the contest. From that time on, I was a spy working for GSS (Gregarious Simulation Systems), and IOI.

As a "Double" employee, I was now receiving two salaries. The salary paid by IOI, and the one paid by GSS. I was not trying to become a wealthy man by any means. This was just a bonus that came with working both jobs. My first task lay ahead of me.

Last month, in the middle of December when Halliday had first contacted me, I was given a new identity for my avatar. I was also given the new credentials that made me a sixteen year old boy. I was told to go to Ludus, and attend school like a normal boy. Halliday explained that the planet Ludus was the location of the first clue to the egg. And, since I had already graduated from school, I couldn't attend as my real person, so I got a new identity. I didn't use that, because I was still the same old Taisei. But my avatar was now I-r0k.

James D Halliday died that next week.


	4. Chapter 4

**4**

I was getting off my shift working at IOI when it happened. The radio stations, the TV news stations, the internet, were all buzzing with the same information. James Donovan Halliday had passed away at the age of sixty-seven. No one knew what had happened. It was rumored that he didn't have contact with a single soul after he had fallen out with Morrow. Now, every single person was talking about him. Not because he was really that important, but because of the contents of his last will and testament.

For the next couple months, everyone was treated to a five minute video of the man's last request. Since I can't enter the contest, the video really didn't contain that much importance to me. I saw it once or twice, and I wanted to talk to Morrow and ask him what he thought. But we couldn't speak anymore. The clock had started counting down.

Morrow and I could not speak to each other about what we knew. It was too risky. Twenty-four hours before James died, no one was paying any attention to what you did in the OASIS. Now, everything that was possible to monitor was being monitored. Some of it illegally. IOI was the first major corporation that wanted that damn egg for themselves. Later I found out that they were monitoring every single Gunter on the OASIS. They knew who the Gunters were because the dumbasses had all posted or viewed the Gunter forums and blogs. The identity of all of the OASIS clients was kept confidential. But for some reason there were people who were bribed by IOI to leak that information out to the boss of the Sixers. We'll talk about who they are later.

IOI employees formed a massive clan. Egg hunters, also known as Gunters, formed clans which swore that they would associate only with each other. If they found the egg, they would split it with each other, and blah blah blah. The IOIEs, (IOI employees), took a written oath to help find the egg. They signed a contract that they would keep none of it for themselves, and give it all to IOI. This clan had everything. Massive armies of avatars, and an endless supply of weapons. They had it all. I sure hope Halliday knew what he was doing. These guys were going to win. I knew they would. The OASIS would lose its Freemium status, and there wouldn't be a way to access it if you weren't wealthy. No one wanted this.

Whether or not I liked it, (And I didn't.), the OASIS was the primary escape from the real world. We were plagued with a new problem now that we didn't have in 2012, which was when the OASIS started. We had a new energy crisis. We had grown massively and the population on the planet was staggeringly enormous. People struggled to find places to live, and food, clean water, energy, and a whole host of other necessities. You had to have a damn good job to get along in this world. This is why the OASIS was the most popular thing since sliced bread. People used it to get away from their terrible lives. Homeless people could afford the luxury because they could just access it with the free wireless access points all around the world. The only ones you had to pay for were the ones that came with Haptic suits and other OASIS gear. Otherwise, if you had your gear, and you were homeless, you could still access the place. However outdated your gear would undoubtedly be.

For the next five months, everyone and their brother became obsessed with the hunt. Almost every single OASIS user claimed to be a Gunter, and it put you in high status. The next year brought with it a resurfacing of 1980s pop culture. Movies, songs, clothing, books, comics, everything. It didn't matter whether you were in Africa, Japan, or the United States. Everyone wanted that egg. Everyone. The hunt continued for the next year.

On the anniversary of the death of the famous creator, the Gunter fad started to die down. A lot of people claimed they were getting closer to the first clue, but none of them really were. James had hinted that the clue was on Ludus, and none of the clueless students were looking anywhere on this planet. They were looking everywhere but on Ludus. GSS made a killing in profits just with the teleportation fees they charged people who didn't have magical means, to teleport from one place to the other. Fees that constantly kept going up.

The second year passed.

The third.

Fourth.

Five years later there was still nothing. School was getting boring for me, and there was still nothing. But I had to stay at Ludus as a fake student, because I had to see if anyone found the Copper Key. The Gunter title became a symbol of ridicule after the first year. Most people just simply believed that either James had hidden the egg so well no one would ever find it, or it wasn't even a real thing. These people said that James Halliday was dying to be remembered, and had tried one last time by making a hoax video that told viewers he had hidden his fortune in the OASIS. No one found it year after year, and more and more people called it quits and stopped trying to look for it. Og invited me to his dance club on his birthday the year that James died. He said he doubted that the egg would be found in either of our lifetimes. We knew it wasn't a hoax, we just didn't know where it was. Neither of us knew what was on Ludus that I was supposed to be guarding.

When I went to sleep, I left my OASIS avatar logged in to the system. I rigged a set of speakers to fit with my visor so that I could hear any sound throughout my tiny studio apartment. If I received a phone call, or an email, or anything, I would be able to hear it. I kept logged into the system for five whole hopeless years hoping to find something. I was on the lookout for the first kid to find the clue. Or anyone, for that matter. But nothing happened.

Nothing happened, until the afternoon of February 11, 2045. I was sitting at my emersion rig watching _The Full Metal Alchemist_ , when I heard the chime that interrupted my video feed.


	5. Chapter 5

**5**

Let me tell you how it all started.

In the OASIS, if you did something either good or bad, you instantly gained celebrity status. Depending on which forums it was posted in, or what media covered the activity, you either became famous instantly or over a period of months. One of the most famous combatants I knew on a regular basis, was a male avatar who went by the name, Aech. (Pronounced like the letter H.) He was an avatar who had rad skills at combat. He became famous around the OASIS, and became the host of his own chat room. He only granted access to the people he wanted to invite. His was a private chat room.

In the OASIS, chat rooms were stand-alone simulations. So you weren't really in the rooms. You would either be on whatever planet you were currently on when you initiated the chat, or in your avatar's home.

Aech had created a chat room called The Basement. It was a 1980s rec room, full of comics, and video games. All of course, related to 1980s pop culture. I do not know what gave him the courtesy to extend friendship to me, and invite me there. I attended the same school as he did, and we had a couple classes together. Still. We weren't close, and we didn't hang out a lot. But he did extend that courtesy. And lucky me, I knew him and his best friend, Parzival.

Parzival was a lowly level three avatar that attended school on Ludus. I knew this, because he never teleported anywhere, and I once was asked by him if he could catch a ride with me to a place where noobs would be safe to do quests. Quests were done to level up your avatar. If you went to a place where your avatar wasn't safe, you'd get killed. Something this poor shmuck couldn't afford to do, or else he'd have to recreate his avatar. I wasn't sure if he'd spawn back at Incipio, which was where all the avatars were spawned, or back in Ludus, which was where we all attended school. So out of pity, I let him tag along. Of course, I hadn't let him forget about it, and because of my constant harassment, he'd never once asked me for a ride again. I would never have harassed him if I would've known that he was going to be the one to find the first clue to the egg. In fact, I wish I hadn't been a total dick to the poor guy. But oh well.

I had two secret identities. No one knew my real name was Taisei Oshiro, and no one knew I was working for IOI and GSS. However I got carried away when I was in character as a school boy. I did all my school work, and I socialized with all the kids who attempted to make friends with me. I got carried away, though. So Parzival, Aech and I always got into a fight. I acted like I was the shit for some reason. We all knew I wasn't. I acted like I was the top of the line In Gunter status. The truth was, I knew nothing about that damned egg. I refer to it as such because it made the whole world fall apart for the first year, and it made the whole world forget about everything else. It also made a comeback when Parzival found the first key. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

The OASIS stood for Ontologically Anthropocentric Sensory Immersive Simulation. This simulation at one point only contained a few hundred planets. But as of now, the place was systematically designed with a grid system. It had twenty-seven sectors which were all cubes. It had been modeled after the famous Rubik's Cube. Each sector contained a range from a few to a hundred or more planets. So you see, this is why it took more than five years to find the first clue to the egg. This is why so many people gave up. As the newsfeeds gave the current discovery, I knew that those who thought it was all a hoax were going to regret ever thinking that. Gunting was about to become the shit once again.

According to the score board on James Halliday's website, someone had found the Copper Key. I looked at the score board wondering who it was. Never in my wildest dreams did I ever think that I knew the avatar who had found the stupid key.

Parzival. My eyes scanned over the other nine spots which still contained James Halliday's initials. The first spot was now taken by Parzival. My jaw was hanging open, and so was my avatar's. I didn't even know what to do with myself. I just couldn't believe this. There was no way in hell he would find the first gate. It took him five whole years to find the Copper Key, and if he kept his mouth shut, he would be able to be the only one who found the key. But how had he found it?

And then it hit me. I was guarding the Copper Key! He found it because he was on Ludus the whole damn time! If I could've entered the damn contest, I would've found it too. But Ludus was huge! So how was it that he knew where to look? He couldn't have spent the whole five years looking on Ludus. It was too big and too boring to do that. How had the sonofabitch found the key?

I couldn't waste time thinking about this. I had to pay attention to the feeds. If he was this smart, he would clear the first gate in hours. Oh my gosh. Was I supposed to do something else? Halliday didn't say! I needed to talk to Ogden before I went insane. I needed to! Just then, there was a chime as I received an email.

It was from Ogden himself.

Subject: Copper Key discovery

Message: Hello there, Taisei. I request a meeting with you at your strong hold. I will be there at midnight JPST. If declining, please respond as soon as you can. If I do not hear from you, I assume you will be waiting for me there. Arigato. Og.

Maybe he needed to talk to me about the errors I'd committed. James had never told me what I was guarding! So how in the hell was I supposed to protect it? Or was I supposed to keep an eye on Parzival now that he found the key?

"I hate you!" I shouted as my hands balled into fists. My avatar mimicked my actions.

I stood up and removed my visor and paced. Once my visor was removed, I could hear the sounds of my home planet through my speakers. Birds were chirping in the background. This allowed me to think.

How had he found the key? Had Halliday placed it on Ludus for a kid to find it? Or maybe because it was one of the first things created. I didn't know. My hands were sweating as I paced. Was I going to get in trouble? Or did Ogden know something I didn't?

It took five years to find the Copper Key. It could take a year or more before he found the first gate, and cleared it. I sighed. Should I let my guard down? Or should I worry? Why did I care? I didn't really care. The egg wasn't my problem. Later I found out that as an IOI employee, it was so totally my problem.

It was midnight Japan Standard time when there was a chime. Og had just teleported to my stronghold. I put on my visor, and I settled myself back in my chair. Og was bowing to me as I gazed at the screen. I bowed back.

"Hello, I-r0k." he greeted smartly.

"Hello…, sir." I didn't know what to call him. Calling him by his first name, or last, seemed to be messed up, but just calling him Og was embarrassing as well. He didn't seem to notice.

"Have you seen the score board?" he asked.

I gasped as my avatar blushed. I forgot to disable the emotion sensors on my visor. I flicked my window for the score board into view. There were two high scores now.

"Aw shit." I gasped.

"Exactly. The hunt is on." He said softly.

The score board still had ten spots. These spots were filled with the initials JDH for the last five years. But now, there were two different names on the board.

Parzival was the first on the list, with a total of one hundred ten thousand points. Right below him was Art3mis, with a total of nine thousand points. I stared.

"This means that Parzival cleared the first gate, but Art3mis still just only has the Copper Key." Morrow informed. "These two never gave it any thought to what being famous was going to be all about." He muttered.

"How bad could it be?" I asked as I started nervously rubbing my hands together. My avatar did the same. I forget a lot that I'm wearing my suit, and whatever I do my avatar does. So I act a lot like I do in the real world when I'm in the OASIS.

"You're probably wondering why I asked to come here?" he asked.

"Yeah." I said smiling at him. "Aren't people going to be suspicious?" I asked.

"I am invisible to everyone accept for the people I want to be seen by." He explained.

"I guess that's what comes with being the powerful wizard, Og." I said smiling at him as I gave a small bow.

"You have to do me a favor." He said softly. "Try to see if these two will talk to you. You do know both of them…, right?" he asked.

"No. I only know Parzival." I said softly. "He's best friends with the guy who runs the Basement. It's a chat room for—"

"—I know what it's for." Og said softly. "I've been spying on the chat room for a while. I didn't actually think it was valuable until now. Parzival knows Aech." He said softly. "You have to get as much information as you can out of him." He requested.

"I'll try." I said bitterly. "I have to warn you, I'm kind of a dick to them, so they might not tell me anything." I confessed.

"Well, if you can't do that, then keep an eye on Nolan Sorrento." Og said bitterly.

"The head of the Ooology Division?" I asked.

"The very one." He said through clenched teeth. "What is it that you do at IOI's base in Japan exactly?" he asked.

"I maintain all of the firewall security points. I make sure there is no absolute way they could be hacked into." I explained.

"Do you have access to video feeds of everyone?" he asked.

"I have access to just about everything. Some guys who designed the IOI systems left some bugs in it, and I purchased some back door passwords online once on the OASIS." I informed. "I can see everything I want to see."

"All right. Keep an eye on the ooology division, and I'll keep an eye out for Aech, I-r0k, and Art3mis." He explained.

"Uh…, Og, sir?" I held my hand up before he left. "I'm I-r0k." I corrected.

"Sorry, I meant to say Parzival." He said as he rubbed his hands. "This could get very ugly."

He had no idea just how ugly it was about to get.

Just as he left my stronghold after we said goodbye, I heard a chime. I looked at my score board, and I saw that Art3mis had cleared the first gate. I gasped. My hands started to sweat again. I moaned. I was so painfully awkward sometimes.


	6. Chapter 6

**6**

The next day at work, everyone was talking about the damned egg. The Ooology Division was scrambling to find out how those two had cleared the first gate. Soon, there were more people being added to the score board. Soon, the High Five were born. Parzival, Art3mis, Aech, Daito and Shoto. All in that order. It took a whole week for all of them to clear the first gate.

The high five was a group of Gunters coined by the Gunter message boards and forums, as the first five to reach and clear the first gate. These were Sorrento's five targets.

I had overheard him speaking to the division at large. He had sent a bombardment of emails at each person to clear the gate, and asked them to join him. Or at least honor him with a chat. He was vicious. This was not bound to end well. I didn't know what Sorrento was offering the High Five for joining his Ooology Division. But I knew it couldn't be good.

One of the things that fascinated me was the last two avatars to clear the gate. Daito and Shoto. These were Japanese names for Samurai swords. Could it just be some kids out there in the US taking advantage of these cool names? Or could it actually be someone from my own homeland? I didn't know. For some reason, I really hoped it was the second one. If any of these two one, it would bring honor to Japan.

For the next twenty-four hours I couldn't sleep. I was too damned nervous. This was going to be very bad, very fast. I overheard Sorrento threaten to kill these guys if they didn't join with them. But he couldn't do that. … Could he? The OASIS guarantees full anonymity to everyone who signs up. He couldn't find out who they were. Not unless they were stupid enough to go out an meet the damn fool for a chat. I wished I could've asked Og if there was any way they would be able to get their identities revealed. But it was too late.

It looked like Mr. Morrow had come up with the same solutions as I had. Later that day, (Or night, in Japan.), he gave an interview to an IOI owned network.

He was basically the most arrogant smart assed shit face I have ever seen. He spoke to the first two high score holders directly. The other three hadn't joined yet. He explained to them the dangers of revealing their identities, and to keep their fat fucking mouths shut. He gave so much grief to the reporter, that the feed to his interview got cut off. He had insulted IOI.

I stood up and took my visor off. I started pacing again. He had come up with the very same solutions I had. The sixers would do anything they could to get the information of the first key/gate. Anything! I started to panic.

They had money to cheat! Endless amounts of it. They had avatars falling out their asses. They had weapons, and armor, and special artifacts that they would buy from online auctions. They had hacked immersion rigs! This was what pissed me off the most. Each sixer was equipped with a hacked rig to allow them to take control of any sixer avatar they chose to control. If one person didn't know the answer, but another one did, the other one could control the avatar and help them clear the gates. They could do anything and everything to break the rules, just to get control of the OASIS. James's contest would be ruined. Like Ogden said, "The soul of the OASIS" was in danger.

There was another chilling thing he had said that made me feel very sick inside. One person could keep a secret. But could two? Or ten? Soon the sixers would know. By force, if need be. My stomach lurched, and I felt bile rise up to my throat.

"None of you better give IOI a glance." I moaned. "Keep your mouths shut if you know what's good for you."

Aw…, who am I kidding? It was worthless. There's always one idiot in the group, right?

Ogden Morrow contacted me again requesting to teleport to my stronghold once again that night. I'd been up for a while now, and I was still logged into my IOI account on my second computer. IOI wasn't the only ones with hacked equipment.

"Konnichiwa, Taisei." Ogden said as he bowed.

I bowed back as I replied to his greeting.

"I saw your interview." I said bitterly.

"I have a plan. Forget about that interview." He said as he paced with me.

"No. I have to tell you something."

I told him about the hacked immersion rigs. I told him about the threats Sorrento had made towards the high five. I also told him that this guy meant what he said. He was going to get that information, whether they were going to give it to them or not. Ogden's face was angry red by the time I finished.

"Those cheating bastards." He growled.

"They are despicable." I muttered as I hung my head. "They have no honor. Not a damn drop."

"All right. Plan B." he said as he dropped into a chair.

"What's plan B?" I asked.

An hour later, I emailed Aech and Parzival as I had promised. I asked them, (Knowing they wouldn't.), to reveal the location or the information to finding the copper Key. They refused. SO, I black mailed them. They didn't give. Just how Ogden and I had planned it. After they refused to give me what I wanted, I blabbed to the whole Gunter community and anyone else who would listen. I told them Aech and Parzival were people I knew who attended Ludus with me. This worked. I was able to make sure half of the population on the OASIS migrated to the planet. The schools were disrupted because of this. I had my plan in motion.

After I made sure everything was done, I went to a place where I could fight zombies. I got killed purposely. There went I-r0k.


	7. Chapter 7

**7**

At midnight between Friday and Saturday of that week, the unthinkable had happened. I was logged into the IOI system, and I overheard Sorrento informing the division that he had gotten ahold of the real identities for the High Five. A chill ran up my spine, and I nearly threw up again. I had to tell Morrow. Before I left to tell Morrow, I heard the worst news.

Someone informed Sorrento that Parzival was at the chat room requesting a meeting with him. My stomach felt like it had disappeared. So, that idiot I was talking about, remember him? It was fucking Parzival. If I knew who he was I could've flown over there right now and kicked his ass. I so wanted to get ahold of his twentieth level avatar and kick his fucking ass back to last year. Hey, at least if I did that, the fucking moron would probably change his mind about revealing the location of the fucking key. Fucking stupid son of a bitch!

I sent a quick message to Og explaining to him what had happened. I didn't know if he would reply or not, but it was worth a try. I hoped no one was spying on me. After all, they did get the identities of the high five.

My curiosity got the better of me, and as Sorrento got ready for the chat with Parzival, I went and looked around in the Ooology database for what I needed to know. It took me a while, but I found a folder called Star Chamber, which only Sorrento and few others had access to. Being a fire wall inspector and security management employee, I had absolute access to it. It didn't take me long to find the almost empty dossiers from all five of the players. They were located in a folder called Threat Assessment. I knew who they were just like Sorrento did.

Parzival was a stupid idiot by the name of Wade Owen Watts. He lived in Oklahoma, and he lived in "the stacks" apparently. A unit of old rusty trailers stacked up high, and dangerously so. Right now, there was a video feed showing his trailer, and a bunch of people huddled in the "Living room." All of them, of course, logged into the OASIS. I couldn't believe that this guy had given his real fucking name. It only got worse from here.

Art3mis was a Canadian girl by the name of Samantha Evelyn Cook. She was also dumb enough to give her name and address, and a video feed was also streaming her current location in her home.

Aech was a smarter fellow. His name said Henry Swanson, but I had a feeling that was an alias. They had even less on this character, because he had submitted his photo for school as his avatar face. It didn't say much. But all they had on him was the wireless access points for whenever he logged into the OASIS. He was always mobile, it appeared. I wondered if he was a homeless pervert, or a homeless kid? Or maybe he was just that smart, and didn't provide real information.

The next name on the list made me scream out loud. My voice bounced off my apartment walls. My eyes filled with tears as I found out just who Daito was. He was my very own cousin. My painfully awkward cousin. Toshiro Yoshiaki was in his late teens or early twenties. I didn't know, because I had lost touch with him a long time ago. One of his aunts had married my father, and we became cousins that way. My heart filled with pride for him being one of the High Five. But this only lasted for a moment before I realized he was in danger. In very big danger. I couldn't believe he was Daito. If he didn't be careful, he was going to get himself killed. I moved onto the last kid on the list. I had to act quick, or the chat would start without me.

Shoto was the last avatar to clear the gate as part of the High Five. He was also from Japan. His real name was Akihide Karatsu. He also had a video feed of where he currently was. I didn't even know if I could handle knowing all this information. He was just a teenage kid. My cousin was a little older than him. But this one was a mere boy. He was putting himself in danger. If Sorrento and the IOI Sixers did anything, and these two lost their lives, I had no idea what I would do.

I gasped. The chat was about to start. I hadn't been keeping a close eye on it like I should've. Shit. I clicked out of the database, and went back to spy on Sorrento's chat room. Just as I got there, Sorrento and Parzival got comfortable.


	8. Chapter 8

**8**

When I switched back to the original video feed, I spotted Sorrento and Watts taking a tour of IOI's virtual world. I entered just in time to hear Sorrento make some remark about how scary it was to be thrust into the limelight, and that Parzival was now very famous. "…you now possess information that millions of people would be willing to kill for?" He was asking the youth a question. I'd missed the very first part. Hell, I'd missed the first part of the entire conversation while I tried to figure out who was who. But I still got the message. This man was making threats against Parzival. He seemed to get the message as well, because his face contorted into a terrified expression for just a millisecond. Then, Parzival was his stoic arrogant self again. He seemed to have rehearsed his answer. He asked Sorrento to just go on with what he had to say, and skip the scare tactics. I wondered if this was a PVP or player-versus-player zone? Had Parzival just saved his ass by not showing up with his real avatar to the IOI simulation world? I looked on as the meeting continued.

They went up to the 106th floor where the Ooology Division was located. I could see that Sorrento was turning up his intimidation vibes. How this kid could stand there and be sarcastic to Sorrento was beyond me. Because that's what he did.

When Sorrento started in on his offer, Parzival would often interrupt him to make sarcastic remarks and give his intimidator attitude. But Sorrento wasn't going to give up. So he gave the boy the offer.

Sorrento and Parzival sat down at Sorrento's desk in his enormous office. The man started talking. He wanted to offer Parzival a position as Chief Ooologist. They needed help finding the Copper Key, and Parzival had been the first one to find it. His position would put him in charge of a whole team of Sixers. According to Sorrento, he would be second in command. I could tell that Parzival was actually thinking this over. I wanted to scream and shout how idiotic he was being, actually sitting in Sorrento's office. He was being so dumb, and he was at risk. Now this guy had him right where he wanted him.

Parzival was about to give him the answer as they sat there talking. Sorrento held up his hands and tried to fill the boy's head about how the Sixers were no different than a Gunter clan. Sharing the same goals, and blah, blah, blah. We all knew that wasn't true. I was shocked when Parzival actually told him he was willing to work for them. Sorrento looked very surprised as well.

Parzival threw in a couple conditions. The main one being that he didn't want to work with Nolan Sorrento. He wanted the bastard fired if he was going to work for the IOI Ooology Division. Sorrento seemed to instantly get pissed off. But he thought it over for a moment, and finally agreed. He would leave the operation, and Parzival would be in charge. All he had to do was move to Columbus, and actually work out of IOI's headquarters.

Then, just when the deal was closing, and everything was about to be settled, sealing our fate, Parzival spoke up and retracted his statement. He stood to leave, but Sorrento stopped him. He told Parzival there was more, and the youth sat down making himself comfortable on Sorrento's desk.

The head of the Ooology Division threw in his last ditch effort to keep Parzival on his team. At least for the day. They were ready to wire him five million dollars straight to his OASIS account for the information leading to the retrieval of the Copper Key. This wasn't looking too good. I'm sure if he refused, it was only going to get worse for him from here on out, until the boy decided to give the sixers what they wanted. But how bad could things get? Surely people like them still had some morals. Right? Wrong.

When Parzival passed on this offer as well, he stood to leave for a second time. Sorrento stopped him again. The bastard had more? Shit, I can't believe how persistent he is. He seemed to grow ominous and a lot more intimidating. I don't know how the hell Parzival stood his ground as he sat back down to hear the rest of the offer. Oh, wait. I do.

Parzival was in the middle of telling Sorrento to take a hint and leave him alone, when Sorrento gave the final order. "Sit down, Wade."

I froze. I had no clue he was going to reveal to the poor teen that he actually knew who he was. I thought for sure he'd keep that a secret. Wade seemed to feel the same surprise as I did, if not more. He was frozen for a whole half a minute, before he finally sat back down. Sorrento smiled and became a little calmer. His demeanor returning back to its snobby prissy self.

He didn't exactly say for how long it had been going on, but he did reveal to Wade that his trailer park had been under surveillance. They had last seen him enter his dwelling three days earlier. The brutes had bribed someone at his public school for all the information. It was disgusting how people could cave and do illegal things for just the right amount of money. My suspicions were confirmed as well in assuming that Aech had given a fake name. Throw-out this whole chat, Wade was stunned.

Then as if things couldn't get any worse, they suddenly did. Sorrento informed the boy that his trailer was wired with explosives, so he better not log out of the chat link, or he would be dead within seconds. The beast even showed Wade the remote controlled detonator to prove he wasn't shitting him. Wade had no way out. I didn't have a way to contact Og, either. But I was sure glad I knew how far these guys would go to get what they wanted. The question remained. Was it Sorrento's idea? Or was it someone higher than him? It didn't matter, because the boy was done for.

Sorrento outlined his last proposal with the utmost clarity. He wanted the information to the first key/gate, and he wanted it now. Or else, he threatened, Wade was a goner.

I could see Wade contemplating his choices. He obviously didn't believe that the man had placed explosives at his home. He thought the IOI employee was bluffing. I could also see the cogs turning in his teenage head. If the man wasn't bluffing, and Wade refused, he was dead. He had been talking to Sorrento this whole time trying to stall. As much as he tried to hide all his fear, I knew the boy was scared shitless.

At the last moment, I saw the expression set in Wade's face. He had made a decision. He shouted one last insult in Sorrento's face, before his avatar disappeared. I gasped. Holy shit, dude. What had this boy just done?

I trained my eyes on the video feed of the boy's home. I waited for a minute, and nothing happened. They were just joking! Sorrento loves to intimidate the crap—

There was a big flash of light, and the trailer along with all the others went up in smoke. The explosion brought down with it the surrounding stacks of trailers. I was lucky I was alone in my tiny studio, because my mouth opened of its own accord, and I let out a blood curdling scream.

They had done it. They had taken Wade Owen Watts out of the first spot to win the egg. That's how bad they wanted it. And they weren't going to stop there. They had Art3mis's identity, Daito's, and Shoto's. My cousin was in danger! And there was not a god damned thing I could do about it.


	9. Chapter 9

**9**

I was too high on adrenaline to get any sleep. I don't even know how long I'd been up. I emailed a long message to Ogden, and I told him everything. Parzival was dead. My cousin was probably next. I needed help. I waited, and waited, and nothing happened. He never got back to me for a whole day.

I was finally calming down a couple hours later, and lying on my bed ready to sleep. Suddenly, out of my speakers, came the voice.

"Hello, Taisei?" the voice called. It was Morrow.

I stood up and put on my haptic gloves and my visor. My avatar appeared in my line of vision sitting on the couch. He looked at me for a while.

"You don't look so good." He explained.

I felt the tears fill my eyes, and I couldn't mute my mic in time as my avatar let out a sob.

"I'm sorry, Taisei." He said softly. "What else has happened?" he asked.

"nothing!" I sobbed. "My cousin is in trouble, and Wade is dead! And there's not a damn thing anyone can do about it! Do you know if we went to the media with this, they would just say it was all a joke? No one would believe us, and there's no evidence! Wade's trailer explosion looked like a meth lab explosion." I was a nervous wreck. I couldn't do a damn thing about it.

I felt a calming hand on my shoulder. Morrow sat next to me in his long wizard's robes. My sobbing calmed down a little bit, and I steadied myself. I had top-of-the-line gear, so I actually felt the wizard's hand on my shoulder as I sat there.

"I hate to be a rude ass." Morrow said bitterly. "But Wade brought that up on himself. I warned everyone who was watching my interview not to say anything to IOI. I warned everyone to just try as hard as they could to stay out of the spot light." He said bitterly. "I'll think of a plan." He said as he stood up to pace.

I felt a lot calmer now that Morrow had reassured me that he knew what had happened, and that he was going to come up with a plan. My breathing returned to normal, and my crying stopped. This was the all-powerful Og. Second in command only to James Halliday himself. Both these men were geniuses. If anyone knew what to do, it was Morrow.

I slept for a long time, and awoke at seven in the evening that Saturday. I had no idea what to expect when I went to look at the news feeds, and the Gunter forums. I wondered if anyone else had cleared the gate?

First thing's first, though. I had to eat something. Or else my mind would not be able to focus on the hunt.

As I ate, I thought about ways to contact my cousin and try to make sure he was safe. But there was no way. He was a total hermit. He would never reply to any of my emails, and he was stubborn as fuck. If he felt he knew what he was doing, he would listen to no one. That's why he left home so early. I sighed as I threw my garbage away, and headed back to my console and computer.

When I logged onto the IOI network, the news was showing the same thing on every channel. Dozens up on dozens of Sixer ships and armies were scattering all over Ludus, trying to find the damn tomb. It was a seriously freaky sight. There were so many of them, it was not even an exaggeration. I had never seen so many air crafts and so many Sixer avatars. When I logged into my OASIS account under my new avatar name, I teleported to Ludus to see the action first hand.

The air was dense with flying ships and other types of vehicles. It was a massive army of Sixers looking for the tomb. But that was all right. The high five had already cleared the first gate, and a lot of other Gunters probably had too. There was no way in Hell the Sixers could reach the top of the score board now. No way at all. I left Ludus, and went back to my strong hold.

I went from console to computer as I did my job with IOI, and attempted to keep up with what was going on in the OASIS. Working with IOI was a seven day a week thing. There was always some hole in the fire walls that I had to patch up to make sure no one hacked us. So I was kept busy.

Sunday around four in the afternoon, was when it happened. I went to check out Ludus, and saw it. The Sixers had found the entrance to the Tomb of Horrors. They had also placed a force field around it, and now had blocked off all Gunter access. I just gaped at it like a dumb fuck with my mouth hanging open. Could they do that? What am I asking! Of course they could do that! They were the God damned Sixers! They didn't play by the rules. Those cheating shits were going to pay.

As I thought of my cousin, I realized I was just angry and getting carried away with myself. None of us, Morrow or I, had a plan. No Gunter had a plan either. They weren't going to pay, and I knew it. I think at the time I mostly just kept telling myself that to make myself feel better. Aech, Daito, Shoto or Art3mis would come up with a plan. They were not that dumb. They found the tomb all by themselves, right? This means they were smart enough to make a plan. I just had to wait and see what the hell was going down. This would prove to be difficult.

I was working on the IOI system updates, when I heard a chime. I switched from my IOI issued computer to my console. I put on my visor, and saw a message icon on my display. It was an email from Ogden. I opened it.

Subject: good news

Message: PARZIVAL IS ALIVE! HE IS ALIVE! HE WAS NOT AT HIS HOUSE WHEN THE SIXERS BLEW IT UP! That is all. OM

I stared at the email and read and reread it for five whole minutes. Then I let out a scream of joy. This means he's probably telling the High Five about the incident! This means the boys, and Art3mis, will probably take more precautions to be safe from now on. I was actually happy again. I felt happier than I had felt in a couple days.

The problem still remained. Gunters couldn't access the tomb because of the force fields. I sighed as I paced my studio once again. I had posted the information on the forums hoping the Gunters knew where to go so they could clear the gates before any of the Sixers could. It didn't work. But the Gunters were now pouring out of every terminal, and headed for the force field. It was going to be an attempt to take it down.

It was so bad, that Ludus was evacuated. The school system was moved to a second Ludus located in the same sector. The first Ludus became residence only to the Sixers and Gunters.

For a while, the Gunter clans and other Gunters threw everything they could at it. They cast every spell they could at it. But nothing was able to penetrate the tomb's force field. It's all right, though. Gunters knew the Sixers now had access to the Copper Key, and the first gate. So this would mean there would be a redoubled effort to try and beat the Sixers. Everything was going to be all right. Right?

The Sixers cleared the gate a couple hours later. Sorrento was the sixth person to clear the gate after Shoto. He probably insisted that it be him who gets the first chance. I sighed. I felt so rotten right now. So fucking defeated. At least my cousin knew about the incident with Wade.

It happened a couple days later. The Sixers' force field had broken, and the Gunters were now crammed into the tomb with whatever they were supposed to fight or do. What had happened was a bunch of Gunters pooled their resources together, and purchased an anti-matter bomb on EBay. Actually, they purchased two. They detonated them in sequence, and the force fields were shattered. The score board filled with new avatar names now. The Gunters had done it. They had taken down the force field, and there was no way the Sixers could put it back up. There were just too many Gunters, and it was a no PVP zone.


	10. Chapter 10

**10**

Some time passed before anything else worthy of storytelling happened again. It seems that the Sixers and the High Five were all stuck on the directions to finding the Jade Key. I was a little happy about this. This meant my cousin was still safe, and that there would be no attempt at any murder for the time being.

I received another invitation to Morrow's 73rd birthday party. I decided to go. It was the only kind of social contact I would have. I was busier than ever working for IOI now that I had no business guarding the Copper Key on Ludus. I still saw Aech in the combat arenas from now on, but we never talked. He didn't even know I used to be I-r0k. Other than that though, like I already mentioned, IOI was the only thing I was preoccupied with these days. I looked at the score board every once in a while, but the board remained the same.

The party was at ten PM OST, which meant that it would already be the next day in Japan. I would have to be ready by ten forty five in the morning if I wanted to go. That was no problem. I'd already gone to his globe once, so I knew it was located in Sector Sixteen on Neonoir. I wondered if he had invited the High Five? Something told me that he probably had. But would they show up? This was a PVP zone where both magic and technology worked. Risky business if you ask me. But who am I kidding? Wade was the biggest idiot I've ever seen.

I showed up to Morrow's birthday party dressed like Edward Elric. No one paid attention to me, as this show wasn't very popular. I was the only geek that seemed to be obsessed with it. So I was relatively safe. It wasn't hard to spot Parzival and Art3mis at all. There was a booth in the center of the giant zero gravity sphere with R2D2 as the DJ.

Parzival was the biggest idiot I have ever seen. I know, I keep saying that and it's mean, but holy shit, dude! He was so fucking stupid. He was in the most elaborately decked out DeLorean I have ever seen. He made a giant entrance. People gave him everything from death threats, to sexual harassment. He handled himself well, though. I noticed the dude was dressed exactly like Peter Weller. What a dumbass. Not for dressing like that, but for making an entrance. Come to think of it, he was a dumbass for showing up at all.

I walked back into the club, and ducked back into a hiding place among the people at the bar. I ordered endless virtual drinks, just to keep busy, and keep an eye on Parzival. Art3mis showed up a while later, but she didn't make as much of an entrance as he had. She was after all, second place. People weren't after her as much as they were after Parzival. Which made me wonder if the news that they were here had hit the feeds yet.

I checked a few just to make sure I was or wasn't right. I was. The feeds were buzzing with the news that they were both here. I moaned. I took off my visor and went to my computer to look at the Sixers' feed. It didn't take me long to find out what I needed to find out.

There was tons of avatars gearing up to go to the sector and get those two. Especially since Sorrento found out that Parzival was alive. The chief Ooologist was pissed off. I have never seen anyone so mad. I had to warn Og somehow.

I went back to my OASIS console, and sent out an important email. I got a reply back within five minutes. Og knew what was going down, and he was ready for it. I breathed a sigh of relief. Hopefully no one would get hurt. … Or at least…, no one important.

I don't know how long I had been gone, but when I went back to my seat at the bar, Art3mis and Parzival were dancing. The R2D2 had vanished from the DJ booth, and was replaced by Og. I smiled. He was able to see everything from his position at the center of the zero gravity sphere. We would be all right, I'm sure.

Just as I looked back at the couple of high five Gunters, I saw them start up a dance that involved two colorful blobs orbiting each other. Soon, the whole dance floor was a mass of color and swirling shapes. I just stared. Had I virtually just taken a hit of acid from the bar? No. This was kind of cool. I wished I had a date to do this with. I still stared. Og started up another track when the current one ended, and this time it was a slow one.

Parzival and Art3mis formed back into themselves, and so did all the other avatars. As the slow song started, people started to pair off. Soon, the whole dance floor was full of couples, and all the singles were heading to the bar to get more drinks. I, on the other hand, was nervous as all hell. I stood up off the stool I was on, and started to rub my hands together. I sighed as the slow Cindi Lauper song played. What would Og do if the Sixers showed up? My stomach was in knots.

"Sir, would you like another drink?" asked one of the NPC's at the bar. I tell you, Og and James Halliday were geniuses! These pretty bar girls actually interacted with the avatars.

Suddenly, there was a thundering boom. I gasped. I looked around to see what was happening. For a while, I didn't see anything, until I looked up and then I saw it.

There was rubble falling onto the dance floor, and the avatars were all scattering and screaming. Sixers had blasted through the top of the dome where we were all partying. Oh my goodness, the chaos that followed afterword's was the most fantastical thing I had ever seen. I got scared, before I remembered that I was jacked into the OASIS, and none of this could actually hurt my real person.

Sixers were all over the dance floor firing blaster pistols at everyone in sight. They just kept pouring into the club through the hole they had blasted through the top of the dome. I gasped. I had lost track of Art3mis and Parzival. Oh shit!

It didn't take me long to find them. The fire the Sixers had rained down was mostly directed at the two avatars at the center of the dance floor. The club's clientele split into two different groups. One group went for the exits, and the other group stayed to fight with the Sixer army. Everyone was armed to the teeth. I was suddenly locked into battle with a Sixer.

It didn't take me long to win the battle. But this happened the whole time as I tried to make my way over to the center of the group to help Art3mis and Parzival. I couldn't believe they had actually showed up. And what the hell was Ogden up to? I had warned him that they were coming. Why wasn't he doing anything? Just then, it happened.

The booth in the center of the dance floor cracked open, and there was a shout. Og looked really pissed off.

"You jerks think you can crash my birthday party?!" he shouted. This was heard all over the club, since he still wore his mic.

The fighting stopped long enough for all the fighters to look in his direction. In the instance, Og shot out red light from his hands which wound around in various directions. The red light somehow avoided all the innocent avatars, and only hit the Sixers. Every single Sixer was eliminated in that instant. I just stared. I had the same expression I had had when watching all the blobs dance on the floor a while ago. I just stared. "Nobody busts into my joint uninvited!" Og's voice broke through my thoughts as I stared at the place where all the Sixers had just been.


	11. Chapter 11

**11**

Og had wasted no time in repairing the damage done to his club. It was pretty tense for all of five minutes, before everyone started dancing again. I was shaken up, and didn't feel like staying there anymore. I just wanted to go to my stronghold, and take my suit and visor off, and wipe my sweaty hands on my pants or a towel or something. I wonder what effect this would have on my Haptic gloves?

I emailed Og and told him I had IOI related things to do. I told him that Parzival and Art3mis were gone now, and there was no need to be worried. They had escaped unharmed. He knew this, of course. He also saw right through my bull, and in his message, he explained to me that everything would be all right.

I took my avatar back to my home, and sat myself down on the couch. I took off my visor, gloves, and got out of my chair. I stretched, and started pacing the room.

This was completely insane! Sixers had just crashed a party, in order to eliminate the top two Gunters in the contest! All just so they could win the game! What a jip! I still wondered who was the crazy fuck in charge of all this? Was Sorrento really this insane? Or was it someone higher than him threatening him to kill him if he didn't kill these guys? I needed to find out. But how?

I spent the next week browsing the data the Sixers had on every piece of information they thought would be worthy of storing in the cloud. Nothing. Nothing at all. I wanted to try and find a Sixer who actually was against Sorrento. But there was no one I trusted enough.

My big break came when I was sifting through a folder of files at the beginning of the second week. I saw what I was looking for. It was a document with detailed notes on how the Ooology Division got started.

Sorrento used to be a game developer for other companies according to this. He had approached IOI and asked them if they needed help. He had then asked for a large amount of money to form the Ooology Division. This money was taken out of the budget, and handed off to him. This was the money he used to pay the people he hired on to work for him. This was also the money he used to maintain the avatars. Buy supplies, weapons, and special artifacts. This was what made him super powerful. So, in theory, Sorrento was the sole leader of the Ooology Division. He had no one higher than him, and this meant no one was watching over him. The people higher than him were all for getting control of the OASIS, so if he had to do whatever was necessary, these guys would be behind him one hundred and ten percent.

I felt sick to my stomach. I didn't know what to do. Who could I go to with this information? IOI owned ninety percent or so of all the news network feeds. They owned around eighty-five percent of the world's internet service providers. Even smaller companies had become subsidies of IOI. There was no question about it. These guys were becoming a monopoly. The crown jewel was the OASIS, and GSS. And if they got that…, holy crap I don't want to think about what would happen if they got that. We would all be doomed.

I couldn't help starting to cry as I paced my living room. What was I supposed to do? Halliday gave me this job for a reason. But this douchebag was so vague! Never once did he tell either Ogden or I where the keys to the gates were, or even where the gates themselves were. We were just supposed to sit here and…, "Keep an eye on the contest, will you?" At this point, I really hated the genius. I didn't care if he was a legendary man. I hated him.

I hated him for putting me through this, for putting Ogden through this, and most important of all, for putting the world through this. He had made a way for the world to escape their shit holes. Everyone thought this was good. But it wasn't. As we drift more and more into the OASIS, we neglect society completely. We fail to come up with solutions for problems that the real world is facing. Why? Because everything is available in the virtual world! People had met, fallen in love, and gotten married here, without meeting each other in real life! What does that say about us?

For the first time in my entire life, I screamed. I threw a fit, and threw all kinds of items all over my studio. I broke my immersion rig, and shouted at the top of my lungs, cursing Halliday.

"What the fuck am I supposed to do?" I shouted bitterly. "You fucking shit head! You left me with no clues! I'm just a child compared to you! I was not ready for this! Fuck you!" I finished dismantling my rig, and ran to my bed and sobbed for what felt like days.


	12. Chapter 12

**12**

For the next two weeks, all I could do was IOI related work. It took me that long to order a new set of gloves, visor, and a whole new haptic chair, and console. I reassembled it, and hoped to Zen that nothing had happened in the Gunter world. I really regretted breaking my equipment the moment I had done it. It sure felt good, though.

When I logged back in, there was nothing new. I didn't know if that was supposed to be a good or a bad thing. I guess it was good that nothing had happened, and good that the egg still hadn't been found. But the bad news was that IOI was still on the hunt as well as the other Gunters. I sighed and so did my avatar.

"I really gotta turn off the emotion filters." I said as my voice echoed into my apartment, and my stronghold.

A week after my rig was fully assembled again, I was snooping around in the IOI avatar inventory. I found something that made me almost scream out loud again. But this time, I had to be quiet. I was in the stand-alone simulated IOI headquarters in the OASIS. If I made any noise what so ever, I would be discovered, and my whole charade would blow up.

Somehow, the Sixers had acquired a very valuable item. They had acquired a tablet from somewhere. It was called Fyndoro's Tablet of Finding. I knew about this item, because in a previous conversation with Og, he had mentioned it.

"We're okay. We still have a chance as long as they don't get the Fyndoro tablet." He had said.

I called him on his OASIS line, and he answered on the first ring.

"Hello?" he asked.

"I can't believe they got ahold of Fyndoro's tablet." I said bitterly.

He hung up the phone, and I logged out of the standalone simulation, and went to my strong hold. When I got there, he was already sitting on one of my virtual arm chairs.

"I know you're the all-powerful wizard, but that's still creepy." I said as I paced the room.

"Are you sure?" he asked.

I smiled, and again, so did my avatar. Our friendship had developed to the point where apparently no greetings were needed. I didn't say that aloud, though.

"I just saw the damned thing." I said bitterly. "We're doomed."

"You know, sometimes I question the sanity of my best friend." He said bitterly. "I can't believe this. I'm supposed to be spending my retired years in peace. Instead, after Jim died, I've been spending it in constant alert and worry! When I get to where that fucker is, I'm going to kick his anti-social ass back to life." He growled.

"So this means, that whenever the next person finds the Jade Key, Sorrento and his goons will be able to tell where that person is?" I asked.

"No. Maybe. I really don't know." He replied as he stood to join me in pacing.

"Which one is it!?" I shouted. "…Sir?" I added as my face went red.

"Well, I don't really know. I don't know how much they can hack. If the tablet can't be hacked, then we're kind of all right. For a while.

"The tablet makes you able to see someone's exact location if you're in the same planet. If you're in the same sector, it gives you a location, but not the exact place. Any farther away, and you just get the location of the person according to which sector they're on." He explained. "I think, it can only be used once a week. But don't quote me on that." He said as he stopped pacing. "I'm looking it up right now. There's so many items Jim created that I don't know about. It's kind of sad, really, that we fell out like that." He muttered.

"I'm sorry too." I said bitterly. "He seemed like a very great person."

"Don't get too sentimental, kid. He was crazy." Ogden said as he shook his head and his expression turned grim. "He was the most insane person I have ever met. Only after he grew older, though. That's when everything fell apart for the poor guy, and he became distant with everyone."

"I got it!" he shouted a half second later. "I was wrong on that whole, once a week thing. It's once a day." He explained. "Hey, while we're on the subject, I have something for you to do, kid." He said as he turned to face me. "Go back to the inventory and try and see if the Sixers have another item." He said as he looked through something in front of me. He was probably scanning something in his browser.

"Ugh. If I get caught, You're dead meat." I said bitterly. "What?" I asked.

"It's a bomb called the Cat—Cato—something. Oh, hold on. Cataclyst." He said bitterly.

"Oh, I don't need to go back. They have it. I know for a fact." I said bitterly. "You know what that one does…, don't you?" I asked as I put my hands in my pockets. Dammit, avatar me! Quit acting like your owner!

"I think anyone worth their salt knows what that one does. But unlike the tablet, you can only use that one once. … Ever." He said softly.

"oooooo." We both ooed. "Ever." We both said in unison.

"You know how I just said we might make it out of this?" Ogden asked.

I nodded.

"Well, I was wrong. That egg is as good as gone." He said as he raised his hands in mock surrender. "I give up."

"Well, I don't. I can't. My cousin is one of the fucked five. I have to try something." I said bitterly.


	13. Chapter 13

**13**

I had decided to take a nap one day after I ate a light brunch. The nap was interrupted by a loud chime. I sat up, and looked around. I got out of bed, and ran to my rigs. I saw a flashing light from my OASIS visor and picked it up. I put it on, and I picked up my gloves, putting them on as well. I sat down in the chair, and turned to my screen.

I gasped. The Jade Key had been found. Not by Parzival, though. This time, it was the sassy Art3mis. I gasped. Six and a half months after Ogden's birthday party incident, the key had been found. I couldn't believe it. The girl had found it. What would happen now?

Half an hour later after the girl had found the key, the Sixers all converged on Sector Seven. This means the fuckers had used Fyndoro. Maybe Ogden was right. Maybe we were doomed. But that still left them to search through the whole sector. And sectors on the OASIS weren't small. So it would be a while until the key was found by any of the Sixers. I wished the five of them could clear the gate right at this moment so the Sixers wouldn't have a clue where to go. The next time they could use Fyndoro was tomorrow. Twenty-four hours from now. I sighed as I got ready for the shift at IOI.

Now more than ever, Sorrento wanted to make sure our fire walls and security systems were safe. He sent one of his assistants to contact me, and the two other employees that were stationed around Japan. He was apparently paranoid, and was willing to pay us extra himself if the company wouldn't do it, for us to make damned sure the system was secure at all times. We were constantly finding bugs in the fire walls, and the security software, and he damn well knew it.

I wished I could've talked to Sorrento myself. I wanted to tell him what a dumbass he was.

Throughout my shift at IOI, I kept looking at my immersion rig, and checking the news feeds. Sorrento was a complete dumbass, and his stupidity had given Gunters the advantage. He had used Fyndoro, and located the sector where Art3mis had been. The news feeds had immediately seen that he and his fleet of Sixers had gone to the location. This caused a lot of Gunters and Gunter clans to hit that sector up as well. What a complete idiot. Like I said though, the cards also played in our favor. For now. Until he found the damned key before any of the others did. My hands started to sweat just thinking about it.

Later that day, Aech found the Jade Key as well. I felt so nervous. Where were Daito, Shoto and Parzival? I didn't know if the guys were still alive, or not. Most importantly, were Sorrento and his goons able to use the tablet? I hadn't been keeping track of the time, and I didn't know if the window of opportunity had reset itself. If the kid had found it less than twenty-four hours after they first used the tablet, then everything was all right. But if not…, they knew exactly where the damned thing was located. I sighed.

I didn't have to be nervous for long. A while after that, Parzival actually cleared the quest. He got the Jade Key. I was a little happier. I still had to know where my cousin was. I was super nervous.

There was a chime in my ears, and I saw I had a message. I checked my email, and discovered it was a message from Og.

Subject: Dude!

Message: The sixers found the planet. When Aech reached the gate, the guys found him.! Either that, or they were following him! This is epic!

I shot back a quick reply.

Subject: Re: Dude!

Message: This is not epic! My cousin's in there somewhere!

After I sent it, I took my avatar back to the couch, and I took my gloves and visor off and began pacing. I didn't know what the hell I was going to do! How come Shoto and Daito hadn't cleared the gate yet? Was my cousin dead? Was he? Oh this was too much.

I went back to the visor and put it on along with my gloves. I found out that the newsfeeds were showing coverage of the battles breaking out on Frobozz. The place was teeming with Gunters, and Sixers alike. All of them armed to the teeth and fighting to the death. I just stared. I had no clue how long this was going to go on, but the carnage was unbelievable. According to the feeds, the casualties were mounting on both sides.

I was so lost in the fight, I didn't hear the chime when the scoreboard changed. But when I finally went to look, I saw that Sorrento's score had increased. I shouted at the top of my lungs. I screamed. I didn't know why, but that meant bad news. I wanted…, needed…, Daito to appear.

I sat there crying for fifteen minutes, and the chime went off alerting me to the change in scores. But to my anguish, it wasn't Daito who snagged the key next. It was Shoto.

I just stared. … And stared. … And stared. And then all of a sudden, his name disappeared from the scoreboard entirely. A second ago, Daito had been right below Shoto. Now, there wasn't a sign of him anywhere on the damned board.

I needed to contact Shoto. Or Og. This was going to be impossible. Shoto wouldn't accept the invitation from a stranger. Og couldn't do anything. It was worth a shot.

Two hours later he was walking into my stronghold. I had given him permission to park his Cowboy Bebop vehicle outside my OASIS apartment. He had made this with Daito, and they had both shared it for the longest time. We both sat down across from each other on the two couches. Just then, Shoto started crying. He had forgotten to mute his mic, and turn off the emotion filter on his visor. I got up from the couch and walked over to him. I knew he couldn't feel me, but I wrapped him up in my taller avatar and just held him. I explained to him that he would be all right. I explained to him that Daito would make an avatar later and join him once again. He shouted as he clung to me.

"No! Daito is dead! The sixers killed him! They killed him in real life, 3dward!" he sobbed.

I just stared. I felt my hands start to sweat again. "How do you know?" I asked as I let him go and stood up to pace. "They probably just—"

"—When we were getting the key, he was protecting me because the Sixers were already there. At one point he told me that he was going to try his best, but he had to keep an eye on his apartment, because someone was there. He was puzzled, because he wasn't expecting any visitors." At this point, Shoto was sobbing again.

This couldn't be. I went back to comforting the teen, and just let him cry while I thought about the implications of this story. My cousin couldn't be dead. There was no way in hell. The Sixers already tried to kill Wade and failed. There was no way they were dumb enough to try and kill another Gunter.

When the boy calmed down, he extracted himself from me. "I have to show you something." He whispered.

He opened a browser, and spun it around so I could see it. He pulled up a video file, and started playing it. It was the confrontation between Daito and the Sixers. I gasped. I didn't want to see it, but at the same time, I knew I had to. This was the only piece of closure I was ever going to get. The only way to find out for sure if my cousin was gone.

The feed started with him standing alone guarding the "neglected" dwelling. I could see far off a small fleet of Sixers descending on his territory. As soon as they got within range, they started firing at him. He was rummaging around in his pocket, and suddenly, as more Sixer vehicles descended on him, he pulled out the Beta Capsule. My cousin transformed himself into Ultraman. He now stood there, a 156 foot high glowing-eyed red and silver alien hero, able to kick major ass. For the next three minutes. I stared.

"Where did he get that?" I asked.

Shoto shushed me, and told me he'd tell me everything as soon as this was over. I nodded in agreement.

All the Sixers froze as they saw the transformation. Suddenly, he started picking up ships in his hands, and smashing them anyway he could. He smashed the first two ships together like tin toy cars, and started demolishing all the others he could reach. Ultraman Daito was super-fast at snatching them and crushing them. There was wreckage everywhere. Some of it still virtually flaming as it lay there. As the rest of the ships he couldn't get to started firing, he let out a loud booming laugh. The fire was bouncing off of him harmlessly. Suddenly, he crossed his wrists, and a beam blasted out of his hands. He vaporized almost all the ships within range. He turned around every way he could and vaporized more of the ships.

He was too busy enjoying himself so much, that he didn't see the warning flashing on the center of his chest. I had read up on a lot of the items that the Sixers had not managed to get, and I knew all about this capsule. The artifact only gave you three minutes as Ultraman. If you failed to transform back into yourself….

He had a dilemma on his hands. If he changed back into himself, he would get killed instantly. Shoto would also never be able to get the key. I could see the cogs turning in the youth's head. I could also see the Sixers arriving as the ones still left over in his area called for backup. Daito blasted all the ships with his beam. With every burst of power he used, the warning light on his chest shined brighter. He was running out of time, and fast.

Suddenly, Shoto stepped out of the house. The Sixers spotted him as he informed Daito he had the key. Shoto was an easier target, so they directed their fire at him. He put on a burst of speed, and ran for it. Daito made himself into a protective shield as he covered his little brother's ass. Then, his voice broke through my trance.

"Shoto! I think someone is here! Someone is inside—"

Suddenly, his avatar froze. It looked like he was a stone version of himself. A log out icon came flashing on over his head. In the OASIS, logging out when you were in a fight or doing combat of any sort, was like suicide. You instantly forfeited your avatar. His avatar froze for a full minute, in which he was totally defenseless. The creators of the OASIS designed this with the intention that no one could cheat by logging out during a fight to save themselves. He had decided to log out at the worst possible moment. As soon as he froze, he took so much damage from lasers and gunfire. The red warning light in the center of his chest started to flash faster, faster, and faster still. Then finally, it was solid red. Daito fell over and collapsed, almost crushing his little brother and their ship in the process. He transformed back into his normal self, and began to disappear. This was how they got him. But I wondered how they got him in real life?

I saw a pile of all the items in his inventory spinning in the air as they fell to the ground. I gasped. The Beta Capsule! Just as I was about to scream out, a blur was visible in the feed as Shoto ran back to collect all of his items. Holy crap, dude. Holy crap. He made a dash of doing so, before he ran right back to the Kurosawa, and blasted into orbit. It still took a lot of fire as it did. The video ended as Shoto made the jump to light speed. He closed the window, and I realized my hands were soaked.

I didn't ask how the Sixers had found him. I knew. He was stupid enough to give the school his real name and everything. That's how they got the bastard.

"Shoto—"

"—No. That is not my true name." he said as he looked over at me. "My true name is Akihide. I want you to know." He said as he once again began to cry.

I sat with him on the floor as he collapsed into grief. I pulled him into me, and I hugged him close. "I know what you are going through." I whispered.

"No, I don't think you do." He said as he stopped crying enough to tell me the story of how they had met.

Both of them were antisocial fucking geeks. Daito was good at video games, and since he had grown up with parents and a grandmother who had lived in the US for a time, Shoto knew everything about pop culture. They made an excellent team. Something told me that that wasn't the only reason the boy was torn up about the death of Daito. He had been an only child, and loved the living crap out of my cousin. The reason for that was because he always wanted a bigger brother. I knew this to be true, because Daito was an only child as well. Shoto idolized him.

"I tried to meet him in the real world." Shoto said softly as he lay in my arms. "But when I suggested that to him, he stopped speaking to me for a long time." He whispered. He had whispered those words so low, I could hardly hear him.

"I know. I have to tell you something." I said softly. "He is my cousin." I explained.

"What?" Shoto gasped as he stood up extracting himself out of my grip. "Are you serious?" he asked.

"My name is Taisei." I said softly. I explained to him what the relationship between my family and Daito was.

"Can I tell you something?" he asked softly. "This is a secret. No one else must be knowing of it." He said softly.

"What?" I asked dreading the tone in his voice.

"I believe very deep that this is over. This battle is won, and we are not the winners. The Sixers, they have no honor. They have everything. They got everything. They won." He said as he threw himself back on to the couch and curled up into a ball.

"I have an idea for you." I said softly.

"Hmm?" he asked from the couch.

"Why don't you get revenge?" I asked.

"No. That's not for me to do. That is up to you. Revenge is your job. He is your family. Not mine. He didn't even want to meet me in the real world." Said the boy as more sadness filled his voice.

"No, Shoto. I have to tell you a second secret." I said bitterly.

I knew I was risking it all. But my shock and numb state at losing my dearest cousin had just hit me, and I found no point in keeping secrets anymore. So I told him the truth. He was puzzled. I didn't know what else to do. Secrets were just not good at this point.

"So, you cannot get this revenge?" he asked bitterly. "One more thing to be disappointing me. Just what I needed." He said as he balled his hands up into fists.

"This is your job, Shoto. I cannot do it for you." I said softly.

"We have lost." He said bitterly. "Don't you see? We have lost this game now. We are doomed. There is no more hope."

"It's not over 'til the fat lady sings." I said bitterly.

"What is that?" he asked.

"The game is not over until the game has actually been won." I explained. "We still have a chance."

"This means I may get my revenge!" shouted Shoto as he stood up. "I will bathe in Sixer blood!" he shouted at the top of his lungs. "The egg is no longer part of my quest." He whispered. "Taisei, I must go."

"Wait!" I shouted blocking his exit. "What are you going to do? What if they find you next?" I asked.

"I have some things to do that Daito left me in his will. He wanted me to give Parzival some items."

"But what if they find you?" I asked.

"They will not find me. I have taken steps to make sure of this. My destiny will be fulfilled!" he shouted. This was apparently a huge deal for the poor teenage boy.

"Wait!" I shouted stalling him a little longer. This was the last person—even if virtual—to have seen my cousin alive. I wanted to be in his presence as long as possible. Because I was going to cry and scream and curse the world as soon as I was alone. "How did Daito get the Beta Capsule?" I asked.

"Parzival, Daito and I completed a quest. You have to play through all thirty-nine episodes of the show in order to get the capsule." He said as he told me where the quest was.

Before long, it was time for him to go. I felt so alone as he left. I watched his vehicle go, and I felt myself start to cry once he left.


	14. Chapter 14

**14**

When he left, I was able to check my feeds. The score board was the first thing I went to look at. It hadn't changed. Daito's name was no longer there, and Sorrento was part of the High Five. I sighed as I went back to the coverage of newsfeeds. The Sixers were losing. Even with all their armor, and equipment, they couldn't protect all five hundred twelve copies of the neglected house. So for that remainder of the day, only seven more avatars reached the Jade Key.

Soon, after the Sixers realized they were losing too many, they came up with a new plan. They stuck to only guarding ten copies of the neglected house. They protected ten of the copies, and lined up their forces to get the key one after another. Soon, the rest of the board filled up with Sixer employee numbers that had obtained the Jade Key. It was despicable. The score board now contained over five thousand seven hundred numbers. Thing is, over two thirds of them were IOI employees. More names were added for the next twenty-four hours as Gunters figured out where the Copper Key was, and came to claim the Jade Key after that. This was easy, as the message boards and newsfeeds all said where the key had been. So it was pretty much common knowledge.

Several message boards had rumors floating about as to how Daito had gotten killed. I couldn't believe it. I was still numb. Sooner or later, that would wear off, and I would be so hurt. I just knew it.

There was a small article in one of the Japanese newsfeeds. It basically showed my cousin with his real identity, and claimed it was a suicide. It said that he had jumped from his apartment balcony located on the forty third floor. Toshiro Yoshiaki lived alone in a converted hotel in Shinjuku Tokyo. They also included a school photo of the youth. This was why he didn't want to meet Shoto in real life. He looked painfully shy, and had terrible acne. The OASIS was the only place he could act and feel like a hero.

I also went to my IOI issued computer, and got to snoop around in the data base. There was what I had been looking for. It didn't take me long to find it. The videos of Wade and Toshiro's deaths. I played Toshiro's video, and watched in horror as they ambushed him.

There were three large men in black ski masks waiting in the hallway to his apartment. I noticed that they had ear pieces on. It looked like they were getting a signal. They used a key card to open his door. It was a tiny one roomed apartment just like the one I lived in. I felt tears streaming down my face as I watched the men do their dirty work.

They rushed in, and yanked the youth out of his haptic chair. They were too strong for him to struggle against. I watched in complete horror as they threw him right off his balcony. There was even a view of him falling. I stared in gross shock as I watched. I wondered if Sorrento had requested this to be filmed as well, or if someone higher than him had requested it.

I don't know how long I'd been up, but when I finished the video, I knew I needed to go to sleep, or eat, or go to the bathroom, or all three. My back hurt from slouching, my legs were stiff, and I'd been sitting at my rigs for who knew how long. I hated it, but I couldn't keep awake or alert any longer.

I took care of business, and ate some food. Then finally, at about four forty five in the evening, I was able to go to sleep. It was sleep I desperately needed.

The sleep didn't last for long. The loud speakers of my rigged visor awoke me. The scoreboard had changed again. I gasped. I jumped out of bed, and ran to my immersion rig. In record time I was in the chair, with my visor and gloves on.

I had expected Parzival, Art3mis or Shoto to have cleared the second gate and found the Crystal Key. But no. At seven 12 Japan Standard time, Nolan Sorrento had cleared the second gate. I couldn't believe my eyes. It was true. He had found it. He was now at the top of the score board.

"Just when I thought it couldn't get any worse." I said to no one in particular.

For the next twenty-four hours the high five was destroyed as more and more Sixers cleared the second gate. And two days after that, Sorrento had found the third key.

This was the most stunning horrifying thing I had ever seen. The end of the contest was near. We could no longer fool ourselves. Poor Shoto. I had pumped him full of hope. He had no chance. The fat lady had just started to sing, and it was not for our side. We were indeed…, doomed. I once again took to cursing James Halliday for putting us all through this.

Shoto informed me that day that he had given Wade the capsule, as instructed by Daito. The next time I checked my scoreboard after I took a twelve hour nap, Parzival had cleared the second gate. That wasn't really much of a victory, because it didn't put him at the high five again. He still needed to find the damned Crystal Key.

I went to eat a meal, and take a long shower. I needed to just step away from IOI and the OASIS for a little while. I was going completely crazy over something I didn't even approve of.

I never played on the OASIS. I didn't work there for a living. I didn't conduct any business there. So why did I care if IOI got control of it? My world would not collapse if I couldn't freely access the system. Then I remembered my cousin. I knew exactly why I should care. They had taken his life, and I needed to make sure they didn't win. I don't know how the hell I could help from now on, because I was not able to enter the contest. I also didn't know about any of the riddles, or the quests. I had to have some hope though. There would be some way I could help the actual high five. I just didn't know what it was yet.

When I returned back to the visor, I checked the score boards. Parzival had gotten the Crystal Key. But I couldn't celebrate for long. The top story caught my eye when I was looking at the newsfeed.

Apparently, the third gate was located in Castle Anorak. The sixers had arrived on the castle grounds and surrounded it with force fields. This was so fucked up. Shoto emailed me with a video of the situation. The castle was surrounded by two different domed shields. Inside there, surrounding the whole castle, was the entire Sixer army. By reading the message boards, I also got the same information.

For the next few hours, Gunter clans and high level wizards started to once again try and take it down. Some even tried to dig underneath it. That's when we found out that the shield was spherical. This meant that it surrounded every single part of the castle grounds. Above, and below ground. There was nothing the Gunters and their powerful artifacts could do. The Sixers had more powerful artifacts.

"This fat lady is singing." Shoto said when we were on the phone together. "She is not singing for us, Taisei-san." He muttered hanging his head.

"I know, Shoto-san." I agreed sadly.

I hated to see the boy in this state. He felt and looked truly defeated. The prospect of revenge was no longer in his mind. He just didn't want to play the game anymore.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Remember! They took my cousin!" I shouted bitterly. "They took what could've been your older brother!" I said as I stood up off the haptic chair. My avatar rose to his feet as well.

"But Taisei, there is no thing we can do." Shoto said bitterly. "No thing! Why should we not give up?" he asked.

"Because…, revenge!" I shouted.

"Revenge!" Shoto repeated as he too stood up. "I have to go. I have a lot of work to do, Taisei-san."

For the next few days, Gunters became hopeless. No one really believed they could defeat the Sixers. At the end of the day, we all knew they had won. Shoto had vanished, and I hadn't talked to Og either. We all knew the end was near. Sooner or later, they would figure out how to do what they needed to do to clear the damned gate, and the egg was theirs.

For the next week or so, Parzival vanished. Shoto, Aech, and Art3mis got the Crystal Key. But the castle still stayed shielded. My worry was for Parzival. He had completely vanished. The last time anyone had heard from him, was when he had emailed everyone telling them how to find the key. By everyone I mean the former High Three.


	15. Chapter 15

**15**

Five days had passed, and still no one had heard from Parzival. More and more Gunters tried to get all three keys so they could go to Castle Anorak and try to bring down the shield. But it didn't work. I didn't know what to do or where to go. Parzival couldn't have died, the damned idiots didn't know where or who he really was. I sighed as I paced around my room for the next couple of minutes. Right now I needed to get ready for my shift with IOI. I needed to eat, and take a good shower. I hadn't felt good in a long time, and I Hoped the shower would help.

Three more days of this shit, and I still hadn't heard from anyone. Not Og, not Shoto, or the Sixers. The scoreboard still remained the same. I was hoping that it would all be all right. My hope was that the Sixers would give up, and retreat. But they didn't. I checked the message boards constantly, and nothing changed.

On the ninth day, the only interesting thing that happened was another attempt, and success, of one of the indentured servants escaping his unit. IOI was on the alert looking for him. His name was Bryce Lynch, and he looked like every other nerd who had isolated themselves from human contact. No hair on his face. IOI feeds were going wild with this.

Indentured servants were people who made the mistake of getting into debt with IOI. They had IOI visa cards, and they would over spend, and end up owing money. The point was to get a job with IOI, and pay off your debt. After that, you would be free to leave. Some people believed that, but I knew the truth. The corporation tacked on so many interest fees, late fees, and other types of fees. So you always ended up owing a lot more then you actually owed. Thing is, you were stuck in there for life. I heard a rumor once that some people who were desperate enough and needed a home and food would actually go through the trouble of making themselves indebted to IOI. That to me seemed unbelievable. I didn't know if it was true or not, but at least they would eventually get out of debt. That's what they thought, anyway. I wasn't really interested, so I didn't pay much attention to the fool. He was now a wanted man. They were going to catch him. I knew they would. No one has ever escaped the clutches of IOI. Ever.

Midnight that night, I got a call from Ogden Morrow again. He looked flushed, and he was rubbing his hands frantically.

"Conn—

"—Cut the shit! We don't have time for greetings! I'm sending a plane to Japan, and getting Shoto! I also expect you to be there as well!" he shouted. "It's war!"

"What-?"

"—Don't ask questions, we'll fill you in later! Don't worry about anything! Just get ready to go and…"

He told me exactly what to do and where he was going to meet me. I was about to meet Shoto for the first time. There was a limo on its way to get me right as we spoke. I felt nervous, happy, and alarmed at the same time. Something had happened that Og wasn't able to tell me. Something drastic. I knew it had. The man looked like he was assembling an army or something. He also didn't have time to explain, which meant that he seriously needed me to follow orders now more than ever. I was going to get in to so much trouble for missing my shifts at IOI. I couldn't really think about that right now though. I had to do as he said, get myself together, and get the hell out of here. Right fucking now.

When I finally found the limo, there was already a small figure huddled in the back seat. I opened the door, and got in beside him. I saw that he was sleeping. I gently reached out to him as I closed the door, and the limo drove off. I jabbed him in the arm. He jumped and shouted out a curse word in Japanese. He looked over at me.

"Connichiwa, Shoto-san." I said softly.

We both looked into each other's eyes for a brief moment, and then looked away as was common Japanese custom. He looked surprised.

"Dare desu ka?" he asked as he started trembling.

"Taisei Oshiro." I answered.

The boy stared. As the limo drove on, he started to cry, and we both hugged. We didn't say anything for the rest of the limo ride. I wanted to let him process this, and he seemed not to want or need to talk. We had a long plane ride for that, anyway. The fifteen year old youth fell asleep after a long cry in my arms. I knew the pour boy was still grieving for Daito. He and my cousin had formed a very deep bond.

He was a somewhat heavy sleeper, and I carried him onto the plane when we got to the airport. The plane was huge! For just two people, it was enormous. I was in awe at how much money Ogden had that he could afford to fly us out to his home in such an extravagant private plane. I smiled to myself. I saw Shoto stir in the seat beside me.

"As they say in America," Shoto said as he rubbed his sleeping eyes. "Sup?" he asked.

We both laughed for a very long time. The laughter was somewhat strange to me, as I hadn't laughed that long for a while. It sounded loud, and inappropriate. We calmed down enough to finally get down to business.

"Do you know where we're going?" I asked.

"I know as much as you know. Mr. Morrow didn't tell me you would be here." He said softly.

"He told me that you'd be at his place. He didn't say that I'd be flying with you." I said as I reclined my seat to the laying position.

We talked for a long time. Mostly about my cousin, and how much we both grieved for him. We talked about how unfair it was that the Sixers had an advantage. Shoto told me that Wade had some plan that none of us were aware of quite yet. I hoped he did, because tomorrow afternoon, it was war. Or whenever it was. I was slowly losing track of time because of the sixteen hour time difference I was about to go through. I was nervous, but not as much as Shoto.

"Will you fight?" he asked.

"I can try." I said as we touched down. "But I'm a very weak avatar. I don't do very much." I said softly.

"Well, we'll give 'em hell for you, if you want." He said as we both watched the ground come up to meet us. "This is so amazing." He whispered. "I get to meet the second of two creators of the OASIS." He started to try to fix his hair, but instead ran his palms along his shaved head.

"You'll be fine." I said as I got up.

Before we knew it, we were headed to the man's mansion. WE stepped through the plane, out the doors, and onto the lit runway. We looked around. Mountains were surrounding us, and the mansion was straight ahead up a stair case. It looked just like—

"Rivendell!" Shoto exclaimed as he looked around. "He built this place for his wife, and she loved Lord of the Rings." He said as he bowed a bit. "May she rest in peace." He said softly.

"Wanna go first?" he whispered softly.

I looked around at all my surroundings as the plane took off behind us. "Um, you go first. You're the Gunter." I suggested.

"You're older." He said over the sound of water falls.

"You know what you're doing! I don't even know why he brought me up here!" I said as my hands began to sweat.

"Why don't you both come along inside?" asked a voice.

"Aaaahh!" we both yelped. The sound of the scream was spread around a short distance before it ended. Og was standing at the top of the stair case, with open arms.

We both walked together to the stairs, and climbed up. He was waiting at the top. The man was wearing bunny slippers, and seemed not to care. He was also in a bath robe.

"Welcome, my friends. Welcome to my home." He said as he bowed to us. We both bowed low, a sign of deep respect in our culture. Then, after that, he looked directly at Shoto, and smiled wide.

"You must be the famous Shoto!" he said as he looked him up and down. He turned to me. "You must be Taisei. Nice meeting you both." He said as he watched us bow again. He bowed as well.

"Arigato." Shoto said as he blushed crimson. "Arigato." He repeated again. "I cannot thank you enough for taking us into this your home." He said as he looked down at his feet.

I nodded in agreement. "I agree. You are a very generous man. We regret not being able to bring gift—"

"—You have already thanked me enough! If you thank me again, you'll both be spending the next couple weeks in a dungeon." He said as he gave us a wide grin. "Well, no. I don't have one. But still! You both need to stop thanking me. You both are welcome in my home as long as you need to be here." He said as he turned around. "Now. Art3mis is already here, and Aech and Parzival will arrive in a half hour." He said as we all walked in. "I will show you to your immersion bays, and we can get this thing on the road!" he said as he closed the doors behind me as I entered.

He took down an honest real live torch, and lit it.

"Whoa!" shouted Shoto as he tried to conceal his excitement but failed. "So amazing!" he gasped.

I nodded in agreement. The place was big. In the hall there were suits of armor, and on the walls there were massive amounts of pictures. It was incredible. He led us to a spiral stairway that took us down into another hall. That led to an elevator, and we took that down to his basement. I really wanted to look around more, but was too nervous, and just stared at the bare minimum. Shoto felt the same way, I knew. I had caught the boy looking down at the ground he tread on the whole way down here. He took us through a maze, and to the immersion bays he had. There were seven. I was feeling nervous, and I knew Shoto was more so. He had to do the fighting, after all. He showed us the empty bays, and told us the first one was his.

"There is a dressing room full of gear for every size at the end there." He said as he gestured to it with an open palm. "Parzival and Aech will be here any minute, and I have to go wait for them. Take your pick of bays, and get ready! The battle draws near, my friends." He said as he turned to leave.

"See you after the fight." Shoto said bitterly.

"I know you'll do great. If you don't, IOI gets the money, his mansion, and control of the OASIS. So…, there's no pressure." He said as he walked away.

"Gee, thanks." Shoto said bitterly.

"You'll be fine." I said as he ran off quite fast for someone his age. "Parzival is confident in this. He must be, or he wouldn't have gone ahead with it." I said as I looked at the bays.

We both walked into the dressing room, and picked out new suits. I was astounded at the top of the line gear he had for us. It was impressive. We both walked out when we got dressed, and then turned to each other.

"You'll do just fine." I said as I bowed to him. He looked at me with a very white face. "Shoto-san, calm down." I said laying a haptic gloved hand on his shoulder. "You will do fine. Good luck." I said as I watched him go into the second bay.

"Arigato, Anii-san." He whispered softly.

I smiled proudly at the term. I'd hardly met the boy, but it seemed like we were indeed brothers. I watched him enter his bay, and shut the door. I turned and took the seventh bay. I shut the door as soon as I entered. I looked around.

The room was a circular room. Well, it looked like the interior of his dance club, actually. But instead of being zero G and containing bars and chairs, it had a haptic chair in the center, and the rest of the walls and ground served as a treadmill. No matter what direction you walked or ran, you'd never bump into anything, as the room was constantly rotating. The ground, the walls, the ceiling. Kind of like running inside a giant ball. I couldn't believe it. I sat down in the chair, and it fitted itself to me, and gave me a new visor. That too, fitted itself to me with minor adjustments. After a bit, I logged in. This was it. We were going to be battling IOI employees soon in what promised to be the most epic battle in virtual reality ever. I just hope it wasn't for naught. I hope we won. Everyone was rooting for them, even me and Og.


	16. Chapter 16

**16**

The first thing I checked was the scoreboards. The damned boards hadn't changed. The Sixers hadn't found the way to open the third gate. Everything was still safe. For a while, anyway.

The next thing I did was check the news feeds and message boards. The feeds were going crazy! There was video of Sorrento blowing up Wade's place, and there was also video of Daito's death. I felt a tiny bit of emotion, and I tried my damnedest not to break down. I did not watch the video for the second time. Normally, I would've kicked Wade's ass for putting this up there, but I knew right now was not about preservation, or any other loyal shit like that. I knew he was doing it so he could show the Gunters how serious the Sixers were about winning the egg. They had killed him to get him out of the top five. Of course they were serious. So far, Sorrento and his lackeys hadn't commented on any of it. I knew they were enraged.

The next thing I saw was a message posted by Parzival on every forum he could think of. It was a "Call to arms" he called it. He was addressing every Gunter in the OASIS worth their salt to go join him in the fight. I went to his channel and saw that the video feed was running a loop of him reading his email. His avatar was standing in his strong hold, and he was reading from a written statement. I could tell, because his first few lines were a little dull, and nervous.

"Fellow…, Gunters." He said softly as he cleared his throat. "It is a dark day. After years of deception, exploitation, and knavery, the sixers have finally managed to buy and cheat their way to the entrance of the third gate." He said as he looked at the camera. "As you know," he said as he started to get a little more confident. "IOI has barricaded Castle Anorak in an attempt to prevent anyone else from reaching the egg. We've also learned that they've used illegal methods to uncover the identities of Gunters they consider a threat, with the intention of abducting and murdering them! If Gunters around the world don't join forces to stop the sixers, they will reach the egg and win the contest! And then, the OASIS will fall under IOI's imperialist rule! The time is now! Our assault on the Sixer army will begin tomorrow at noon, OST. Join us! " he shouted. The video started to repeat itself again, and I flipped it off and went to see the feeds of the others. They all displayed the same video.

It was on.

"Given you're only level ten, I think you should remain behind, with me." Said a voice that made me jump and scream. My avatar jumped and shouted too.

"Thanks for the scare, Jason!" I shouted at Og as he stood in my stronghold.

"Darn it, I forgot my hockey mask." He said with a grin.

"I agree. Just tell me what you want me to do, and—"

I was suddenly teleported to the man's castle on the OASIS. We settled ourselves down in a couple of arm chairs, and Ogden Morrow produced the live feed of the castle on Chthonia. The scene was unbelievable!

There were virtual news helicopters hovering all over the perimeter of the castle! There was a mass of vehicles all around the fortress as well. There was a lot on the ground, and flying around it in midair. And still more flew in as we watched. It looked like all of OASIS was here to either see it all go down, or help. Just then, Og said what I was thinking.

"But how many of these fuckers are just going to stay and help?" he asked bitterly. "They all know what they're up against. So how many of them are willing to risk it all? Look at all these idiots. They don't have a chance at reaching the egg. Tonight, it's going to be either a Sixer, or one of the four in the bays around us." He explained.

"Are they here?" I asked.

"Yep. They just got in and are now getting ready to go." He informed.

"They have all got to pitch in and help." I said rubbing my hands. "Think about it. Everyone now has a chance at fighting and killing the Sixers. They know how important this is, and are willing to do anything to help. They'd rather see the egg won by Wade now, or any of the other three, than the Sixers and Sorrento, dude. … I mean…, sir." I said as my avatar blushed.

"I hope you're not wrong." He said softly as he looked at the still arriving masses of ships.

We sat there for twenty minutes just looking and discussing. There were a lot of different ships, and vehicles that I had never even seen. I couldn't afford half or more of these babies.

"Holy shit!" shouted Og as he zoomed in on something. "Mech Leopardon!" he shouted as he put his zoom on a giant robot.

I stared along with him. There was a lot of people milling around it in their ships. All of them trying to find out who this was, or how he'd gotten a ride like that. Og seemed to be reading my mind as he told me he had no idea who that was. I just stared. The robot stood out among the rest of the vehicles. Og followed it directly to the center of the crowd of ships, and to an empty small patch. There were three other giant robots standing there, right at the entrance to the castle.

"It's them!" I shouted without being able to contain myself. "Sir, it's them!" I screamed.

"I know, my boy. It's them. I wonder who's who?" he asked.

I felt a nervousness start to stir inside me. This was all virtual, of course. Shoto was just a few bays away from me in the same building as me. No Sixer knew who we were or where, and we were safe. But I still feared for the boy. He was after all, only a boy. It was all going to be all right. Everything.

There stood the four gleaming giant robots. Leopardon, Minerva X, Raideen, and an RX-78 Gundam mech. I wondered which one was which. Leopardon was still floating in the air. He did a rotation so he was standing up right, and landed on one knee. There was massive cheers as the ground shook beneath it.

"Parzival." We both said at the same time. The boy was very over confident, and showed off a lot. This had gotten him in trouble already, but he couldn't seem to stop. I smirked, and Og did the same. The cheering was so loud, I almost forgot where the hell I was. It really felt like I was at Og's castle, watching footage of a real battle.

Every once in a while, we would snicker as some idiot flew too close to the shield, and got vaporized. People weren't paying any attention to the shield, and kept crashing into it. Some even kept firing down at it hopelessly. The bullets and other ammo just rained onto it as if nothing was happening.

"The army of IOI shit heads looks quite small compared to this crowd." Og said trying to make conversation.

"Yeah." I said as my stomach started to feel like it was made of knots. "How many of them will fight, though?" I asked bitterly.

"They're all going to look like total fools if that shield doesn't drop at noon." Og said as he snickered.

"I have confidence in Shoto's confidence in Wade." I said making him laugh even harder. "Stop it!" I whined.

Seven minutes. I was looking at the clock every thirty seconds.

Six.

Five.

There was suddenly a loud angry roar that nearly burst my ear drums. People were shouting and cursing, and everything. I looked at the screen to see why. The doors to the famous castle had finally opened. Out came a single avatar.

Nolan Sorrento. IOI number 655321. The most hated sixer of all.

"Welcome to Castle Anorak," he said with a large grin. "we've been expecting you."

"Shit." I breathed. "Sorry, sir." I added as I extended my hands in a gesture of apology towards Og.

"Kid, I don't care! It's part of nature! If you feel angry/scared or any other type of emotion, and you feel it is needed to curse, go ahead! And stop calling me sir!" he added bitterly.

"This is not looking good." I said bitterly.

"Everything will be fine." He said smiling at me. "Now shush. He's about to say something."

"I must say, we are a bit surprised so many of you showed up here today. By now it must be obvious, to even the most ignorant among you, that nothing can get past our shield." People all over started shouting at him. They insulted and cursed at him. Some of them even gave him rude hand gestures. Parzival raised his hands and in his own magnified voice shouted for quiet.

"You're wrong, Sorrento. We're coming in. At noon. All of us." he said bitterly. There was a roar of approval from all the Gunters. Sorrento spoke without waiting.

"You're welcome to try," he said with a bigger grin. He plunged his hand into his pocket, and took something out. He showed it to everyone at large. He placed it on the ground, and I saw Parzival looking down at it.

"What is that?" I asked unable to see.

"I don't know. The video feed isn't zoomed in far—"

"Kiryku!" shouted Sorrento. His voice was still magnified. I knew exactly what the man did.

"Oh no!" I shouted at the top of my lungs. "Look out!"

"You're hurting my ears, fool! They can't hear you anyways!" shouted Og.

The tiny thing that we both couldn't see because it was too small for the cameras instantly grew as large as castle Anorak itself. Mechagodzilla appeared, and I screamed out loud again.

Og drew in a deep breath through clenched teeth. "They…, are so doomed." He said softly. "Well, we gave it all we had. Want some popcorn? I can have it delivered to your bay." he offered.

"We're not giving up!" I shouted as determination filled my gut. Or was that my food?

"The dude is too big! If he has a giant robot, and the four of them have giant robots, this means whoever cleared the second gate has a giant robot as well!" he shouted.

"You don't know it's from clearing the gate!" I shouted at the top of my lungs.

"To quote you, "Dude!" The robot is bigger than the robots from the four!" shouted Og. "There's no way they're going to win!" he shouted.

This robot was nearly indestructible, and every Gunter in the audience seemed to know that. The place had gone silent, and I saw some ships slowly flying away. They all thought the fight was won too. Oh, man. Maybe it was.

There was a deafening roar, and I snapped out of my thoughts just in time to see the mechagodzilla's giant mouth open with its head thrown back.

On cue, the queue of Sixers behind Sorrento's robot all pulled something out, and suddenly, there were ten giant robots along with Sorrento's.

"Shoot me!" shouted Og as he stood up. "They have all five lions to form Voltron!" he shouted.

"I know!" I shouted. "I can see too, you know!"

"Come on!" shouted Sorrento at the top of his lungs. A lot of the avatars and ships moved back, and some even took off running. The high four were still standing there, ready for the fight. I admit, I was losing hope, too.

"One minute to noon." Og said bitterly. "Fifty-nine, fifty-eight—

"—Dude!" I shouted bitterly. "Will you stop?!"

"Sorry." He said as he clasped his hands in his lap.

Suddenly, the Leopardon robot drew his gleaming sword. This seemed to signal the beginning of the end. All of a sudden, there was a droid rolling forward, and something was going on. I wasn't so sure, but I wondered what the sixers had planned. The droid went to what looked like a control panel, and started entering a series of commands. These guys were fucked.

"Taisei!" shouted Og loudly. "You're squeezing my arm too fuckin' hard, man! Let go!" he shouted bitterly.

"Sorry." I said once again putting my hands up in front of me in a praying gesture. "What's he doing?" I asked looking at the droid. "What's that?" I asked as he and I watched the droid handling a strange device.

"An antimatter friction-induction bomb." He said softly. "I wonder what they're gonna do with it?" he muttered. "Where did the droid go?" he ask bitterly.

Suddenly, there was a flash of blinding light. The shield disappeared. Nothing happened for all of five seconds, and then….I gasped. Holy shit, it was war.


	17. Chapter 17

**17**

I had been talking with Shoto, and Og both. I had my doubts about the army of Gunters. I thought only a few would form ranks and fight. I had seen several take off when mechagodzilla appeared. However, as I looked on with Og, I knew. Every Gunter who wanted to be of any help was going to fight with the four. I was momentarily surprised. It turned into the greatest war-virtual or real-ever fought.

There was a giant battle cry as a cloud of Gunters converged on the Sixers. I was so surprised at this. Many of them had to know they were about to die. Or were they?

There was battle breaking out In the sky, and on ground. Cameras had zoomed to better positions so as to try and show more footage, and also to not get caught in the crossfire.

"Here he goes!" Og shouted.

Sorrento was moving towards the four of them. He wasn't even trying to be careful. As he moved, he crushed several avatars, both Gunters and Sixers alike.

"Sweet mother of Neptune's mother." I gasped.

"What?" asked Og confused.

"I dunno." I admitted embarrassed.

Every OASIS player, including the Sixers, had to pay for ammunition for their weapons. Every single month, or time they ran out depending on their payment arrangement. And at that exact time, Sorrento was taking at least forty-five thousand OASIS credits worth of fire. He was, after all, the biggest robot there. People who knew who he was and what he stood for couldn't pass up the chance of getting a shot at him. Hell, at that moment, I even wanted a shot at him myself. His armor protected him, though, and he was not sustaining any damage. Everything seemed to be bouncing off of him harmlessly.

There was so many weapons being fired, and so much damage being dealt to the Sixers. Most of them got their robots destroyed quite quickly. After the battle was over thinking back, I don't even think they were able to form Voltron. Aech fired the first rounds on Sorrento. At the next instant, the three others fired as well. Shoto fired his bow, Art3mis fired a beam of something from her chest, and Parzival shot a weapon from his forehead. The action was going fast, and the fight was getting pretty serious. The only one who seemed to deal him a great amount of damage, was Art3mis with her beam. She disabled a cannon on one of the mech lizard's shoulders.

"Hell yes!" shouted Og and I at the same exact moment. "You go girl!" Og cheered.

The damage was repaid with a blow from one of Sorrento's beams. It was issuing from his mouth, and vaporizing everyone in front of him. Ship and avatars alike. Sixer, and Gunter. The weapon almost hit the four heroes, but the giant robots flew into the sky. He continued to advance forward. The four of them were flying around him now, making themselves moving targets. I moaned. It looked bad from here. Meanwhile, the fight was still going down all around them. Sixers were being destroyed as soon as they came with backup. All of a sudden, Shoto flew straight at Sorrento, and I could hear him switch to his public comlink.

"Go! This bastard is all mine!" he shouted at the top of his lungs.

"Oh, dear." We both gasped.

I was too busy looking at Shoto to notice where the other three had gone. He was locked in combat with the mechagodzilla. I nearly threw up. His robot looked tiny compared to the giant lizard. I wanted to scream at him, and tell him how foolish he had been. I knew that he couldn't hear me though.

It looked like Shoto had done his research. I saw that he was taking advantage of a weakness he had found in the lizard. The lizard was huge, and because of his size, slow. Sorrento was in trouble. Shoto came along and started attacking him with some giant swords. Og and I both gasped as we saw that he actually did some damage to the mech. The right arm was hanging on just barely at the elbow.

Shoto went to fly towards the castle, but before he could fly very far, the same lightning that Sorrento had used before destroyed him. I couldn't control my scream as I saw the boy's avatar and robot consumed in fire. The ball had hit him in the back.

"Coward!" I shouted at the top of my lungs. "You have no honor!" I shrieked. By this point, Og didn't even try to stop me from screaming. I couldn't bother to stop.

A message flashed on my display to alert me that Shoto's name had disappeared from the scoreboard. I shrieked.

"I'll be right back!" Og said as he put his hands on his lap. "You keep watching. I'm going to try and talk to him."

As I watched, Parzival took some damage to his torso. His bottom half got blasted away completely. I groaned. Og was sitting next to me, but he was stationary. He hadn't returned yet. I shrieked as his mech began falling out of the sky. Both halves were smoldering. If he died, we were in so much trouble. I looked just in time to see his avatar eject itself from the ship, and the ship fall to the ground. It landed on the steps of Castle Anorak, and took out several avatars that were standing there. I lost sight of him. I couldn't find him anymore, and the battle was still going strong on the castle grounds.

"I can't find Parzival!" shouted Og.

It seemed that even though it wasn't needed, we both resorted to shouting after the IOI devil had killed Shoto.

"He's still alive, and I know because his name hasn't disappeared from the board!" I yelled.

Suddenly, there was a flash of blinding light, and the sky turned red. I gasped. I had no idea what had just happened.

"What?!" Og shouted.

"Ultraman!" we both yelled as the hero once again made its appearance. I couldn't believe my eyes. My avatar and my actual person stood up and I cheered and shouted. Og once again didn't try to stop me. Sorrento was doomed. At least, for the next three minutes.

"Where's Akihide?" I asked.

"Watching the fight!" shouted Shoto from nowhere.

"But you're not logged—"

"—I'm the powerful Og, remember?" Morrow asked. "He doesn't have to be logged into an OASIS account." He explained.

Ultraman was now bigger than Sorrento's mechagodzilla. He was about to get his ass kicked. Good. Sorrento's eyes started to glow again. Ultraman Parzival struck a pose. He made a familiar gesture and formed his arms into an X. A pulsing beam was now striking Sorrento. It hit him in the chest knocking him backwards. Sorrento's mech tripped over its feet, and landed on its side. There was a cheer from Gunters all around who happened to be watching. Ultraman Parzival flew up, and came crashing back down. I looked at his feet, and saw that he was going to crush Sorrento with his ultra-hero. Smoke started pouring out of its mouth, and the monster was no more. A glowing circular saw blade appeared. It was made of electric blue light. It spun in the air, and the owner hurled it at Sorrento and his now beaten mech. The lizard caught the saw in its stomach. People screamed and cheered as the blade sliced the mech in half. Just when I thought it was all over, the head parted from the body, and Sorrento had ejected. I groaned. Dammit! I hoped this guy was paying attention to his fucking timer! It looked like Sorrento was about to get away. But before he could, Parzival got him again with the pulsing beam. He hit his mark perfectly. It exploded in a huge satisfying shower of sparks. The crowd, and Og and I went wild. Sorrento's employee number's disappearance was confirmed by a flashing message in my scoreboard. Suddenly, Ultraman Parzival disappeared.

"Don't be so excited." Og said bitterly. "Sorrento's probably going to take control of some other fool's avatar."

"Yeah, but how long could that take?" I asked bitterly.

"I can't find the fucking douchebag!" shouted Og as he looked for Parzival.

"He went into the castle!" I said as I rubbed my hands. "As soon as he opens the gate—"

There was a sudden earsplitting boom. It sounded as though the whole of Castle anorak had blown up. And then, the vid feeds were just…, black.

"Oh…, my…, god." Og gasped.

"What happened!?" I shouted. "What happened!?"

"They did it." Og said as he looked astounded at the video feed. "They detonated the legendary cataclyst bomb." He said softly.

"Are you sure it wasn't you?" I asked softly.

"It wasn't me." He said softly. "It wasn't me. I'm sure." He repeated softly. Everyone in Chthonia and sector ten just died."


	18. Chapter 18

**18**

"Wait right here, and I'll be right back as soon as I can." He said as he stood. "I'm going to restore access to the OASIS to the three other geeks who just got themselves killed." He said as he once again took his visor off and left.

I stared at the nothingness on my video feed. Everything had been obliterated. Castle Anorak, and everyone on the planet. NPC or avatar. Now all that showed was a desolate planet covered in fine dust. All that showed…, was the third gate. Standing wide open. For the taking. Just for the sixers. Shit.

I turned off the video feed that Og had left for me to operate, and went to check on my own stuff. News feeds everywhere were recording that every single avatar was killed. Everyone who was on the sector was killed. Not just the planet. The castle had been destroyed. Over half of the population on the OASIS got killed. I just couldn't believe it anymore. I looked at the score boards, and saw that there were twenty-one avatars left. And to my complete and utter surprise, Parzival was still alive. How? What the hell?!

I looked at the newsfeeds again. No one seemed to know. I wondered where Og had gone to? Suddenly, the avatar took back control of his hands, and took back his browser that he'd left floating in midair.

"How the hell is he alive?" I asked completely aghast.

"Tell you later." Said Og as he flipped through the news feeds. I started to browse through my own feeds, and went to Parzival's channel to see what was happening. The video loop of the call to arms had vanished, and was being replaced by a live video feed as I logged in. He was speaking.

"Greetings, this is Wade Watts, also known as Parzival. I want to let the whole world know that if and when I find Halliday's Easter egg, I hereby vow to split my winnings equally with Art3mis, Aech, and Shoto. Cross my heart and hope to die. Gunter's honor. Pinky swear. All of that crap. If I'm lying, I should be forever branded as a gutless Sixer-fellating punk."

I stared in surprise as the feed vanished, and was replaced once again with the call to arms.

Suddenly, my visor was taken over by a newsfeed, and loud fanfare was playing. There was a shot of Parzival stepping right into the third gate. I gasped.

"Apparently, Jim wanted to make this a huge deal." Og said bitterly. "It's being broadcast everywhere."

"Oh for Leopardon's sake." I moaned. "He shows off just as much as Parzival." I groaned.

There was a flash of light, and a voice shouted into the lone avatar's face. "Beat the high score, or be destroyed!" Then the game Tempest appeared in front of Parzival. I gasped.

"Crap." We heard him say as he hung his head. "This is not my best game, gang." He confessed.

"Who is he talking to?" I asked.

"The other three. They're patched into his feed right now." Og said as he rubbed his hands.

"Oh…, kay." I said confused.

"Later." He promised.

We were all staring at Parzival as he had a one sided conversation with himself. I knew the other three could hear him, and the people could reply. But it still looked weird. I looked at the high score he had to beat. Seven-hundred-twenty-eight-thousand-three-hundred-twenty-nine. I just stared. He was doomed. He also had only one credit to his name. One measly credit to beat the score. On his first try. Or the Sixers would definitely win.

He seemed to have a plan, as he stood there talking with the invisible three for the next minute in a half. I sighed. I wished I could hear the others. But oh well. I'd get to know soon enough. The youth started to play.

"OK, here goes." He said determinedly. "Here goes nothing.. I watched as his hand reached up and hit the player one button.

We both sat there silently looking on as he played. Dodging the enemies fire, and firing his own to try and get through each level, and score as many points as he could. Fifteen minutes later his score reached a total of one-hundred-eighty-thousand points. I was too nervous. He had already lost two lives. It didn't look good. He still had a long way to—

"Fucking shit!" I screamed at the top of my lungs. Parzival had let himself be destroyed by a spike. This took his last remaining life with a total score of one-hundred-eighty-nine-thousand-four-hundred-twelve. Not even close to the high score he had to beat. "You fucking idiot!" I shouted.

"Holy shit, look!" Og shouted as he looked back at Wade. His credit counter had jumped from zero all the way up to forty. I smiled. How the hell had that happened.?

"It's an exploit from one of the earlier games." Og said as he sighed with relief. "I thought he was doomed for sure."

"I was about to go kick his nerdy ass." I muttered.

"Art3mis, you're a genius!" he said happily as he spoke to no one in particular again while slapping the Player One button once more.

This time he seemed to play with more determination and confidence. Og and I sat in complete silence as we watched Wade play Tempest. First game, second, third. They were all trying as hard as they could. I really hope Wade won.

"Don't look now." Og said bitterly. But look what's all around him."

I noticed for the first time, that two different sixers were playing right beside him. I screamed even louder. Apparently anyone who opened the third gate had no choice but to be watched by the public. I stood and started to pace as the visor hung in front of me showing me everything I needed to see.

"What?" I gasped.

"They arrived five minutes ago." He informed.

I watched in horror as sixteen more Sixers took a Tempest game and started to play as well. Each of them were in their own simulation of the game. I watched as they all played, and Wade just stood there, conversing with the voices in his head.

"They all know about the forty credits." Og said softly.

"I think I figured out which one might be Sorrento." I said as I spotted one of the avatars starting his second game. "He's probably operating that Avatar." I assumed.

"The expression on Parzival's face as he finds out he's being watched is priceless." Og said as we both turned to stare at the young rebel. "Look at him go nuts." He said laughing a little.

"Why didn't you guys tell me?!" he shouted bitterly.

The three other teens seemed to be telling him something that reassured him. He took a couple deep breaths, and regained his composure. He reached out and touched the Player One Button again. I could tell he really was trying to make this game count.

The look on the boy's avatar was pure concentration. Clearly knowing that he was being watched didn't affect him negatively. Knowing that there were others with him playing the game did, though. In a very good way. He slipped right into the groove of the game, and was conquering the bastard. I swear, it looked like this time he was actually going to do it! I began to gain hope again. Maybe we weren't doomed.

I don't know how long I sat there watching the guy play. I wasn't really watching him anymore. I was too busy thinking about the last year and change of my life. I couldn't believe what had happened.

"Fuck yeah!" shouted Og so loud I jumped.

I looked up into the video feed, and saw the boy had cleared level eighty-one. He had also beaten the high score! I screamed as well. Og and I clapped our hands, and started chanting.

"Parzi-val! Parzi-val!" we shouted as we watched the next events.

"What was his final score?!" I shouted over the cheering.

"Eight-hundred-two-thousand-four-hundred-eighty-eight." Og answered.

I watched as the game cabinet vanished, and the boy's avatar did as well. I gasped. What the hell had just happened?

Suddenly he was on a hillside. I looked around to see if I could match the surroundings with what I knew about the game. But I drew a blank. His avatar was headed towards a castle.

"I love you, Jim, you geek!" Og shouted as he started laughing. "He made obtaining the egg a three phased task from the clearing of the third gate onward!" shouted Og as he laughed with joy. "Do you know what this is, my boy?" he asked as he clapped me on the back.

"Uh, no?" I replied.

"The first scene of Monty Python and the Holy Grail!" he shouted as he boomed with laughter. "I hope the boy knows what he's doing." He said as we both turned back to the screen.

"The Sixers!" I warned.

"Don't worry about them anymore, Taisei!" shouted Og comfortably. "It's in the bag, my boy! It's in the bag!"

I had no idea what he was talking about. So I just sat back and watched. The boy shouted to Shoto, and a warning flashed up on his screen, and we all saw it as well. "Is he serious?" I moaned as I rolled my eyes.

I sat with Og for the remainder of the time, and watched as Parzival reenacted the Holy Grail. I had never seen this, so I didn't really geek out over it as much as Og did. But it was really freaky to me how well Parzival knew the lines. Now I realized, some Gunters really took everything seriously. Many of the Gunters had nothing else going for them except finding the egg. So they memorized everything they could in the hopes that one day it would come in handy with any of James's riddles. This was more than a game for Parzival, just like it was more than a game for the Sixers. Parzival and every other Gunter who was trying to find the egg wanted it so they could maintain themselves, and leave their crappy households, or make better lives for themselves and their families. The Sixers wanted this egg so they could take control of the only thing they hadn't taken over yet. The OASIS. I admired Parzival at that moment as I watched the boy do everything right, and with exact inflection, and precision. He was serious. That only made me angrier at the Sixers for taking the chances out of other Gunters hands to try and clear all the gates. Daito could've done this, and so could many others who's chance had been stolen from them. I hoped to Zen that Wade won. Or he would be letting us all down dearly.

"I'm going to have to kick Shoto Aech and Arty's asses." Og growled as he and I watched Parzival flub another line when he giggled at the wrong time. "They're throwing my champ off his game." He complained.

"It's made six times worse by the fact that there are a few Sixers right behind him." I said as I flipped from one video feed to the other. "Take it easy," I said as Og growled. "Wade's got this under control."

He finally finished the final scene of the movie, and I gasped as he was transported to the next part. He was in a large room containing only one OASIS immersion rig in the center. I took my time to look around. This room contained versions of what seemed to be every computer and gaming system ever made. They were all…, arranged in the shape of an egg. I stared. Next to me, I heard a soft breath, and I looked around to see Og sitting in his seat, with tears in his eyes.

"This is the end." He whispered. "This is my oldest friend's office." He said as I looked around at it.

I gasped as I saw Parzival run to the exit. What the hell was he doing? He tried to get out, but the game wasn't over. The simulation wouldn't let him get out. He turned back to the computer systems and stared at them all in turn.

"Shoto says that they've lost communication with Parzival." Og informed. "But good thing we can still see him on the feed." he added.

For the next while, Parzival tried every single computer system and console to see which one worked. He looked like he was about to give up, when he finally found one of the computers, and it turned on for him. I watched as the youth tried to log in with several different passwords. Every time he got a password wrong, he had to start all over again. I was nervous. I hoped the Sixers couldn't catch up with him. He was in here for ten whole minutes, and at the last possible second, it looked like he wasn't going to be able to solve it. He looked like he was giving up. I stood and started to pace again. I jumped as Og screamed.

"He did it!" he shouted.

Wade had indeed done it. Every single system in the office had powered itself on, and was ready to go. I stopped pacing and looked at the boy for his next action.

I watched in astonishment as he started to go through the motions as if on autopilot. He picked one of the systems, and searched for the right game. How he knew what to do was beyond me. Suddenly, we were all treated to a show of Parzival playing _Adventure_.

He did everything with precise movement, and speed. I could tell he was really in the zone, and he knew he was on the right track. I gasped as he finally made it to the secret room. There, in the center, was the object of all our desires. The egg.

The famous egg that had been sought after for the last five years. The same egg that had taken my cousin's life, and hurt Parzival. The same Egg that IOI was willing to kill for. After all this time, it now stood right in front of him. In front of us. We all deserved to see what was inside that fucking room, and now we got to see it all.

As I heard Og next to me sobbing quietly, I felt the wetness on my own face. I looked back at the screen just in time.

Parzival grabbed the egg with his Adventure game avatar, and there was a flash of light. The joystick disappeared from his hand, and in its place was the silver egg.

I watched in shock, grief, happiness, and suspense as Parzival went right through the exit that had just appeared for him. He walked right through, and the doors closed behind him. Then they turned into the Castle doors again. He turned around, and opened the doors as if he knew this was going to happen. At this point, anyone who was logged in to the OASIS watched as Parzival walked straight up the spiral stairway, and right to James Halliday's study. When he entered, he took some time to take in his surroundings. Then, he went to the painting on the wall. Right underneath, was a pedestal with a beautiful chalice. The egg's resting place. I wondered what would happen if Parzival put the egg in the chalice?

Several things happened as he placed the egg where it belonged. There was fanfare, and the egg started glowing. At the same time, there was a shout of "You win!" as Anorak appeared right behind Parzival. I could've sworn I saw Parzival jump on the video feed, but I wasn't so sure now that I look back on it.

"Congratulations," Anorak said as he and Parzival stood face-to-face. He stretched out his hand, but Wade just stood there. "The game is over," Anorak explained to him. "It's time for you to receive your prize." he explained.

Parzival finally stretched out his own hand, and the avatars both clasped hands. I gasped in wonder as blue light erupted between them. Suddenly, the avatars changed, and James Halliday appeared in front of Parzival, who now resembled Anorak. Og and I were now once again crying.

"I'm entrusting the care of the OASIS to you now, Parzival," the middle aged man said as Wade just stood there, like a dumbass. "Your avatar is immortal and all-powerful. Whatever you want, all you have to do is wish for it. Pretty sweet, Eh?" James leaned in to Parzival, and whispered. But we could all hear his words crystal clear. "Do me a favor. Try and use your powers only for good. OK?" he asked gently.

"OK," Wade replied stunned.

And then, the feed went black. I gasped. I wondered what had happened. It didn't last for long as the feed returned about a minute or so later. James was hugging Wade to him. He started to speak.

"Listen," He dragged Wade to the window and gestured all around at the surroundings of the outside world. "I need to tell you one last thing before I go. Something I didn't figure out for myself until it was already too late. I created the OASIS because I never felt at home in the real world. I didn't know how to connect with the people there. I was afraid, for all of my life. Right up until I knew it was ending. That was when I realized, as terrifying and painful as reality can be, it's also the only place where you can find true happiness. Because reality is real. Do you understand?" he asked softly.

"Yes. I think I do." Parzival replied softly as well.

"Good," James said as he winked at him. "Don't make the same mistake I did. Don't hide in here forever." He advised. "All right." He said as he stepped away from the new OASIS owner. "I think that covers everything. It's time for me to blow this pop stand.

"Good luck, Parzival." He said as he started to disappear. He waved goodbye as he finished speaking. "And thanks. Thanks for playing my game." Then he was gone. For good.


	19. Epelogue

**Epilogue**

"I'm going back to my place, Og." I said as I wiped tears from my eyes. "I'll see you in a bit. I just have to check a few things out, and I'll log out of here." I explained.

"You wanna ride back?" he asked.

He didn't give me a chance to answer. He just touched my chest, and I was suddenly back at my stronghold. But he wasn't with me.

I pulled up my display, and looked at the scoreboard. It was gone. The only thing left on the website was Parzival in Anorak's outfit, holding the egg. He was declared as the winner. I don't know why, but I needed to stay here for a bit, in my bay. I just wanted to process this alone.

I looked at the newsfeeds, and saw the top story. Sorrento was being taken in for questioning. He had been taken right out of IOI's headquarters. Just like they had done to my cousin, Sorrento had been taken directly out of his haptic seat. Difference was, Sorrento was still breathing. I closed the feed, and felt my face grow hot.

Now that everything was done and over with, I actually had time to feel. I wasn't constantly panicking, and trying to stay alert. So, naturally, my grief hit me like a kick to the balls. I don't know how long I sat there, just crying. But I finally realized, I was hungry, and I was exhausted. I hadn't done much, but somehow, it felt like I had fought right along with them. I took off my visor, put it back, and the console turned off. I got up, and I took my leave of the bay.

Ogden Morrow was standing at the entrance to the first bay when I walked out to meet him. I smiled as he crushed me in a hug. I felt my throat constrict and I tried to swallow back the emotion.

"They won, my boy." He said smiling at me. "And you know what? I don't feel the least bit selfish when I proclaim that it was because of us that they won." He said as he looked down at me.

"But we didn't really win." I said as my eyes finally spilled over and I started to cry again. "Sorrento has lawyers, and loads of them. He's going to be acquitted. He'll get off and—"

"—You wanna sit there and tell me we didn't win, Son?" he asked. "You wanna sit there and tell me we didn't make a difference?"

"My cousin is dead!" I shouted as I tried to pull out of his arms. "You just don't get it!" I shouted.

"Don't get it? Don't get it? Hell yeah I get it. I get it more than you, bud." He said as he tightened his grip on me. "I lost my best friend, and my wife!" he shouted bitterly. "I lost everything, and I was thrust into the limelight when the stupid fuck died. What part of this do you think I don't get?" he asked.

"Winning the fucking egg didn't bring them back." I muttered.

"That was never the goal, you fucking hard headed dork." He said as he shook my shoulders. "The goal was to keep IOI away from the prize. And believe it or not, you made a difference, Taisei. Every piece of information I was able to feed them was because you helped me get it." He said bitterly. "You made a difference. And Toshiro is up there looking at you, and he knows you won. We all won. And before you start shouting at me with your defeatist attitude about Sorrento having the best lawyers, just remember. We're all wealthy too. WE can now afford the best lawyers as well. He isn't going to get off if we try hard to make it so." Morrow said as I relaxed a little. "So, let me start over." He cleared his throat. "They won, my boy." He said with a smile returning back to his face.

"They won, Mr. Morrow." I said smiling back at him.

"I had your belongings brought back separately." He said simply as he let go of me. He gave me directions to the sleeping chambers. "Go get dressed, and shower. Do what you need to do, and meet us all in the dining room for food." He instructed.

"Where are they?" I asked.

"Art3mis and Parzival are outside, and Shoto and Aech are still in their bays." He explained.

"Tell him where I went." I ordered.

"As soon as he comes out, I'll let him know." Said Og as I started to head off.

I took a long shower. I got dressed, and I made sure I looked okay. Just as I emerged from the hall into the chamber, I saw a small figure neatly folding his towel that he had used to take a shower. He looked up as I entered and shut the door.

"Sup?" he asked.

"Sup?" I replied.

"Og told me what happened out there in the bays." Shoto said softly as I put my stuff away.

"It doesn't matter." I said flatly.

"We'll get him, Taisei-san." He said as he placed a hand on my arm. "We got Moolah." He added smirking.

"What?" I gasped.

"I don't know. Wade said that."

We both erupted into laughter again. I hugged him, and we both walked out of the chamber and into the hall. We both headed for the dining room.

When we walked in, Aech was already sitting there eating a plate of some kind of food I couldn't recognize. Og was sitting at the head of the table. She was right beside him.

"Come on in, the food and company are fine." Aech said as she turned to look at Shoto and I. "Who are you?" she asked looking at me confused.

"Remember the Swordquest series?" I asked bitterly. "Remember humiliating me in your basement, Aech?" I asked.

She dropped her fork and stared. "No…, fuckin'…, way." She said as she stood up. "Fuck you." She said as she advanced on us. "What are you doing here, shithead?" she asked.

"Same thing as you, hotshot." I answered.

We both stared at each other for a moment, and then crossed the spaces between us, and hugged.

"You're I-r0k!" she shouted laughing a booming energetic laugh.

"And you're a girl." I said as I stepped back.

"Wait until the master finds out about this!" she shouted laughing. "Parzival is going to shit his pants."

Og gave Shoto and I a choice of food. We settled for the Miso soup and a plate of Sushi. I got a cup of coffee, and the boy got a glass of orange juice. We were just getting settled down to eat, when the doors burst open, and in came Wade and Sam. I smirked as I saw them take a seat across from Shoto and I.

"This is great!" shouted Og as he smiled at all of us. "I haven't had any visitors for a long long time!"

"Hurray." I said sarcastically. "Now you've got five of the most antisocial geeks under one roof."

"Who the hell are you?" Samantha asked bluntly.

"For the answer to that question," I said as I looked over at Parzival. "I'd like to apologize to you for trying to upstage you in Aech's basement the other day." I said smiling. "I also want to apologize for leaking the info to the Gunter forums about the location of the Copper Key."

"No way!" shouted Parzival. "Get the fuck out of here!" he screamed.

"I know. It's really him." Said Aech smiling.

As we all started eating, I told the whole table my story. They were able to fill me in on some of the missing details I hadn't yet found out about as well. Wade's story was so impressive I actually got scared.

"You hacked IOI?" I asked for the third time.

"Yeah. It was something." He said as he shrugged. "I'm glad I made it out of there alive." He muttered.

"I saw the report about you on our newsfeed." I said smiling at him. "Bryce Lynch. I'll be. I never would've guessed it was you."

"I never would've guessed you were I-r0k. Or that Og had been talking to you this whole time." Wade said smirking. "I'm sorry about your cousin, Taisei-san." He said softly.

"Me too. I'm glad it's all over." I said as I finished the rest of my coffee.

"More coffee, Taisei?" asked Og smiling brightly at me.

"No!" I said with a smile of my own. "I am so full, I can't even drink anymore." I explained smiling.

Shoto asked me if he could have the rest of my sushi in Japanese. Apparently he was too shy to ask in front of everyone. I smirked at him. I pushed my plate over to him, and he grinned.

"Bongo." He said as he took the food.

"It's bingo." I corrected.

The whole place erupted into laughter.

After we all got done eating breakfast, we all dispersed. Og said he was going to sleep. He told us if we wanted to, we could explore the mansion by ourselves, or wait for the tour. We all decided to wait. Hundreds of reporters were all camped out at the gates to Ogden Morrow's mansion waiting to talk to the four stars. Og also reminded Wade that he still had to talk to the gaggle of lawyers that used to be James Halliday's and was now his. Him and Samantha went to deal with those. Aech decided to go to sleep as well. That left Shoto and I.

We both made our way down to the tomb where Kira Morrow was buried. I stood with the boy as he silently looked at the grave stone.

"I'm glad we won." He said softly. "I'm sorry it took all of this for us to win." He added.

"It's going to be all right." I said smiling as we both stood there looking down at the grave stone. "After all, we now have the money for the best. Just like Nolan Sorrento."

"Arigato, Anii-san." He said softly.

We both smiled as we hugged. It was going to be all right. We were all done. It was over. The rest…, was easy as pie.


End file.
